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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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AN 



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SUSPENDED ANIMATION. 



S. COLHOUN, M.D. 

MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETT, 



PHILADELPHIA.- 



PUBLISHED BY EDWARD PARKER, 178 MARKET ST. 

WILLIAM BEOWN, PRINTER, 
1823. 









[COPY-RIGHT SECURED.] 



PREFACE. 



This Essay is conducted upon the following 
plan : The general nature and causes of Asphyxia 
are first detailed ; the species from submersion is 
then considered ; next, the mode in which its causes 
operate ; for this purpose, Respiration, as the function 

nore particularly concerned, is first introduced, in- 
volving the examination of the effects of the various 

;ases ; of animal temperature, and of death from cold. 
After this preparatory discussion, the cure of as- 
phyxia from submersion, with that of its other spe- 
cies, is given ; and a history of the progress of 
resuscitation, authors, and humane societies, with the 
necessary apparatus, concludes the Essay. 

With regard to the manner of its execution, it 
consists of a simple detail of facts, collected from the 
best authorities, as well as from a series of experi- 



merits, whose object was to develope completely, 
and establish upon certain foundations, the truth of 
what was already known, as well as to discover 
something new, and thus to deduce a correct patho- 
logy and rational mode of cure. 






CONTENTS 



Page 

Introductory Remarks, 1 

On Suspended Animation from Submersion, . 3 
On the Mode in which the Causes of Asphyxia ope- 
rate, ....... 27 

Of the Function of Respiration as the Place of Ori- 
gin of Suspended Animation, . . 31 

On the Cure of Asphtxia: 

From Submersion, . . . . .59 

From Hanging, ..... 8S 

From Noxious Vapours, ... 90 

From Cold, 92 

From Lightning, . . . 95 

From Fevers, . . . . .98 

From Pressure on the Umbilical Cord, . 100 
From Excessive Intoxication, . .102 

The History of Humane Societies, and Authors on 

Resuscitation, . . . . .105 

The Apparatus and Mechanical Mea?is proposed 
for the Cure of Asphyxia. 
1. Of the London Humane Society, . .108 

Original Documents. 

Experiments, . . ; , . . , 111 



AN ESSAY 



SUSPENDED ANIMATION. 



LIFE is suspended, when its functions cease, 
but can be renewed ; and is designated by the 
terms Asphyxia, Trance, and Suspended Anima« 
tion. 

Its causes operate either directly or indirectly 
on the lungs, the organs in which it arises, and 
may be produced by the suspension, either of 
their mechanical, chemical, or vital phenomena. 

When it is caused by the division of the eight 
pair of nerves, or of the upper part of the spinal 
marrow; by wounds in the chest; by a strong com- 
pression of the thorax and abdomen ; a sudden in- 
jection into, or gradual accumulation of, fluid in 
the cavity of the chest ; the mechanical pheno- 



mena of respiration are first interrupted, the oxy- 
genation of the blood is prevented, and asphyxia 
is produced. 

When it arises from a removal of the air, as in 
a vacuum ; or by its extreme rarefaction, as in the 
ascent of very high mountains ; by submersion in 
water or noxious gasses ; by artificial closure of 
the trachea, as in suspension by the cord ; or by 
natural means, as in the pressure of tumors in the 
trachea, in the oesophagus, throat, larynx or mouth, 
obstructing the passage of air, or by mucous col- 
lections in the lungs, the oxygenation of the blood 
is impossible, and thus the suspension of the che- 
mical phenomena of respiration becomes its cause. 

By the diminution of the vital powers gene- 
rally, as by cold ; lightning ; fever ; small pox ; 
hysteria ; syncope ; apoplexy ; the oxygenation of 
the blood is with equal certainty prevented, and 
animation is suspended. 

Pressure on the umbilical cord in tedious de- 
liveries is also supposed to produce it. 

The symptoms of asphyxia are slightly varied 
by these different causes. They, however, agree 
in their essential characters, the changes produc- 
ed in the organs immediately concerned and ne- 
cessary to life, the lungs, the heart, and the brain. 

The most common causes of this disease are 



submersion in water, suspension by the cord, and 
noxious vapours ; as the first occurs most fre- 
quently, it will form more especially the subject 
of the following pages. 



On Suspended Animation from Submersion in 
■water. 

When an animal falls into water it struggles 
violently, and attempts to inspire ; expiration soon 
follows, and bubbles of air rise to the surface ; the 
struggles become more violent, the animal rises 
again, and inspiration is again attempted ; the con- 
tents of the thorax are expelled, and it becomes 
greatly diminished in capacity ; deglutition is per- 
formed in these struggles, the animal swallows a 
small quantity of water; the pupils are dilated, the 
eyes protruded and glassy ; the tongue and gums 
become of a leaden or livid colour, and death 
follows generally in the space of from one to four 
minutes.* 

The pulse in fifteen or twenty seconds after 



* Oswald on the phenomena of suspended animal life, p. 2, 
1'hiL Ed. 1802, 



submersion, in one experiment, became more fre- 
quent and weak, gradually increasing in fulness 
and becoming less frequent, till, in sixty seconds, 
It was slower by fifteen or twenty beats, and more 
full ; it then gradually declined, and between two 
and three minutes it ceased altogether.* 

Goodwyn describes the pulse as weak and fre- 
quent ; the fulness, which follows, he does not 
mention :f After apparent death, in the space of 
from fifteen seconds to one minute, a violent and 
general convulsive motion takes place ; it is regu- 
lar, slow, and strong, sometimes remaining nearly 
five seconds, returning again at a very short in- 
terval, and repeated two or three times in every 
minute for the space of a quarter of an hour or 
more, generally for about ten minutes after the 
natural struggling has ceased4 The muscles of 
respiration are particularly concerned ; gasping 
also attends it, and when the animal is removed 
from the water a deep inspiration is made, and 
succeeded in a few seconds by an expiration, ren- 
dering it probable, that these convulsions are in- 

* Oswald on the phenomena of suspended animal life, p. 2 ? 
Phil. Ed. 1802. 

f Goodwyn on the connection of life with respiration, Stc. 

} Oswald on the phenomena, and Kite's Essays and Obser 
vations, p. 119. 1795, I.oncL 



tended by nature to re-establish the functions of 
the lungs.* 

According to my experiments, the symptoms 
of drowning, are ; the animal is frequently per- 
fectly still for some seconds after submersion ; 
bubbles of air rise to the surface, forced from the 
lungs by the muscles of expiration ; violent strug- 
gling succeeds ; the eyes are turned upwards ; the 
feet are moved directly downwards, pressing 
against the bottom of the vessel in order to force 
the body upwards,! and continuing between for- 
ty-five seconds and one minute ; the motions and 
looks of the animal then become irregular, and are 
directed in no particular manner ; the head is 
thrown about from side to side, the tongue is pro- 
truded ; the animal gasps, gnashes his teeth, and 
attempts to swallow ; the pupils become dilated ; 
the eyes staring, protruded, and glassy ; and 
finally some frothy water is ejected, the struggles 
ceasing in the space of from one and a quarter, 
one and a half, two and a half, three, and some- 
times not till the fifth and sixth minute ;^ in one 
instance the heart was felt beating violently after 

* Oswald on the phenomena, and Kite's Essays and Obser- 
vations, p. 119. 1795, Lond. 

f Expts. 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 14. 

* Expts. 1, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 8, 26. 

A 2 



four minutes immersion ;* the convulsive stretch- 
ing and gasping continued for two, three, and four 
minutes,| but it never was observed after six mi- 
nutes, the animal being entirely dead after that pe- 
riod. 

The symptoms felt on submersion by persons, 
who have been drowned and recovered, are stated 
to have been great anxiety, giddiness and loss of 
sense or recollection ; in one instance the person 
crept along the bottom to reach the shore ; his 
senses failed ; he was taken up for dead, and aftev 
recovery, gave this account4 

In animals, the state of feeling is pretty certain- 
after submersion; their violent struggles show their 
anxiety and pain ; th*e period of the continuance 
of sense is exactly ascertained to be between three 
quarters and one minute from the sudden irregula- 
rity and convulsive distraction of their movements 
occurring at the end of that period, after succes- 
sive systematic and well directed efforts to escape, 
evinced by§ their looking directly upwards, and 
aressure of the feet against the bottom of the ves- 

» Exp. 9. 
j Expts. 5, 6, 7, 8. 

4 Mem. of the Soc. inst. at Amsterd. &c. translated by T. 
Cogan, M. D. 

§ Expts. 5, 6, 7, 8, 14. 



sel, forcing the body towards the top of the wa- 
ter. 

After submersion, the human body is cold, re- 
laxed, swollen ; the head bloated, the face disfigur- 
ed ; the colour leaden, violet, livid or black; the 
lips are sometimes enlarged, the eyes flaccid, dis- 
tended, dim and partly closed ; the teeth are set, 
the mouth and nose covered with froth ; the tongue 
is blue, livid, swelled or protruded ; the chest is 
raised ; the abdomen tense, and the body is with- 
out pulse at the wrist or beating at the heart ; sen- 
sibility, sense and motion are completely suspend- 
ed, and if the submersion has been sufficiently 
long to produce absolute death, the limbs are stiff, 
sometimes thoughrarely flexible, and the sphincter 
ani is generally relaxed. 

From the circumstance that anxiety is the first 
morbid symptom after submersion, it is evident, 
that the disease commences in the lungs ; in con- 
sequence, the animal struggles violently, showing 
that the brain and organs of voluntary motion are 
next exerted ; the heart beats with great agitation ; 
giddiness and loss of recollection succeed, evinc- 
ing the suspension of the action of the brain. 

In consequence, the voluntary motions become 
next distracted and irregular, evinced in the gnash- 
ing of the teeth, protrusion of the tongue, and 



convulsive gaspings, accompanied with irregular 
efforts to swallow : the thorax, abdomen and limbs 
are more or less agitated, proving that the brain, 
lungs and heart are all involved in the general 
convulsion of the system, which precedes death. 

The lungs, then, primarily, and afterwards the 
brain and the heart, are the vital organs which are 
principally disordered: the other irregularities and 
morbid symptoms are only the result of the dis- 
ease, which exists in them, as will be explained 
hereafter. 

The symptoms of recovery, are, water issuing 
from the mouth and nostrils, accompanied with 
froth; feeble, irregular and convulsive efforts 
to breathe, attended with gasping, and occa- 
sional motions and spasmodic agitations in the 
limbs. The pulse beats at intervals, is small, quick 
and weak ; the face becomes less livid, sometimes 
distorted and violently convulsed ; a rumbling is 
heard in the bowels; the breathing becomes more 
free, the pulse more regular, and a gentle perspira- 
tion softens the skin : vomiting sometimes takes 
place, and gradually a return of sense and motion: 
sometimes the person continues silent, dejected 
and listless for several days, with pains in the head ; 
in one case death supervened in one hour after 
recovery, by a recurrence of epilepsy- 



Recovery from drowning is extremely irregular 
in its circumstances ; it has been successful in the 
aged and the young ; even children of two and 
three years have been resuscitated after submer- 
sion for one minute,* and in several for not more 
than five death has supervened, notwithstanding 
the greatest efforts to rescue them ; youth has pe- 
rished, old age has been saved ;f some were re- 
stored after immersion for half an hour ; one out 
of 600 cases after 45 minutes,:): another after 
more than an hour,§ and two after an hour and 
an half. Old age, apoplexy, syncope, epilepsy, in- 
temperance in eating and drinking, fasting, fatigue 
or debilitating and chronic diseases, have preced- 
ed and rendered submersion fatal :|| the probability 
of recovery will be determined by the combina- 
tion of circumstances which heighten or weaken 
the susceptibility to previous disease in the sys- 

* Reports of the Hum. Soc. of London, case 264, quoted "by- 
Kite, p. 60. See Fowler's exp. and obs. relative to the influ 
ence lately discovered, p. 70. Edin. 1793. 

f Cases 19, 276, quoted by Kite. 

* Cases 103, 165, 350, 420, 547, also Cogan's Mem. of the 
Auist. Soc. quoted by Kite, p. 60. 

§ Amer. Med. Record, vol. iii. p. 339. 1820. Annual report- 
•of Roy. Hum. Soc. 1803. Letters from Copenhagen, 1800. 
!! Kite, p. 61, 62, Lond. 1795, 



i 



10 

tern : apoplexy is rendered probable by a short 
neck, a full habit of body, and from the occurrence 
of the submersion without violence or accident. 

Frequent giddiness, nightmare, false vision, 
tingling in the ears, loss of memory, horrible 
dreams and unrefreshing sleep, will increase the 
probability that this disease had preceded. Af- 
fections of the lungs, long immersion in cold and 
deep water, or exposure, after the body is found, to 
rain and high winds, increase the danger. Re- 
covery has followed submersion for fifteen mi- 
nutes, though fainting had taken place immedi- 
ately before ; and cases are stated, on the most re- 
spectable, but now doubted, authority, in which 
submersion had existed for days, and the patients 
were restored.* In other species of asphyxia, 
resuscitation has taken place after interment ; a 
lady, in England, was brought to life by a thief 
who attempted to steal a ring from her finger.-f 
Sometimes dissection has produced resuscitation, 
as in the case of the earl of Pembroke, who, on 
being opened to be embalmed, as soon as the first 

* See Sandifort, Thesaur, &c. 1768. Roterod. Art. Glim- 
mer, p. 505. Eph. Curios. Dec. 1, A. vi. vii. Obs. 20, 75, 76, 
89, 125, 130, 192. 

f See Reports of the Roy. Hum. Soc. for 1787-8-9, p. 77, as 
quoted by Cogan, obs. on apparent death, p, 106, Lond. 181S. 



11 

incision was made raised his hand ; the heart of 
a Spanish nobleman, opened by Vesalius in or- 
der to discover his disease, was found beating.* 
Recovery from apparent death in consequence of 
fever and nervous diseases, is more frequent than 
from cold and suffocation. Frequently, injury 
done to the body in taking it out of the water, as - 
also medical aid injudiciously applied, have de- 
stroyed life ;f recoveries have taken place after 
considerable violence done to the body, simply by- 
warmth and rest.:}: Sailors frequently fall from 
the tops of masts into the water, and the accident 
is generally fatal ; recoveries, however, are stated 
under the most unpromising circumstances. A 
man fell from the foretopmast head of a ship, 
struck upon the foretop, and then upon the gun- 
wale, falling, before he reached the water, not less 
than sixty feet : he was under water for eight mi- 
nutes, and twenty more elapsed before any means 
of resuscitation was employed : the scalp was la- 
serated extensively, and he was otherwise bruis- 



* See Reports of the Roy. Hum Soc. for 1787-8-9, p. 77, as 
quoted by Cogan, obs. on apparent death, p. 106, Lond. 1815, 

■j- Cogan. Mem. of the Soc. Instit. at Amsterdam. 

+ Sand. Thes. Art. Gummer. 1768, &c. ; also Reaumur nou- 
relle bigar, torn. x. quoted by Gummer. 



12 

ed, yet he recovered perfectly.* The tempera- 
ture of the water also influences the probability of 
resuscitation;! it is stated, by Evers, that persons 
recover sooner after submersion in cold, than in 
warm water. M. Bucquet observes that irritable 
persons are most easily suffocated, and that they 
suffered less4 Experiments on the recovery of 
animals have not been so successful as those on 
the human body. Gummer found that young 
foxes and dogs rarely recovered by the use of 
heat and stimulants, after submersion for more 
than three minutes ; and Kite seldom after eight, 
ten, and twelve minutes. The celebrated Bichat 
never succeeded in resuscitating animals, though 
his experiments were numerous. § Habit has 
great influence in preventing death from submer-* 
sion ; persons accustomed to remain long under 
water, have continued for thirty and forty-five mi- 
nutes beneath the surface, without injury. |) Priest- 
ly observed the same facts with regard to the 

* See Trans, of the Roy. Hunt Soc. from 1774 to 1784, p. 
45-8, as quoted by Currie, p. 109. 

| Ibid, p. 513, and Oswald on the phenom. &.C. 

$ See Hist, de la Soc. Roy. de Medicine. 

§ Kite's essay on the submersion of animals, p. 122, I,onr! 
1795, and Sandifort Thesaur. Art. Gummer. 

| Ibid, p. 507. 



13 

breathing of mephitic air ;* an impure atmos- 
phere produced death in animals, which had lived 
in pure air, more speedily than in those to which 
habit had rendered its noxious qualities familiar. 

Recovery in animals is also extremely irregular 
in its circumstances ; in my experience, they re- 
suscitated spontaneously after one and a quarter, 
two, two and a half, three, and even four minutes 
immersion ;f exhibited symptoms of imperfect 
recovery after four and five minutes,^: but always 
died after six minutes ; no appearances of life re- 
mained sometimes after a much shorter period, 
even after one and a half and two and a half mi- 
nutes.§ The appearances observed on the reco- 
very of animals, are gasping, irregular and convul- 
sive breathing, with spasmodic motions of the 
abdomen ; froth coming out of the mouth, with 
expression of great pain during and after reco- 
very.|| 

The usual evidences of death are cessation of 
the pulse, and of respiration, which is known by 
the application of the flarne of a taper to the nose ; 
or the condensation of the vapor of the breath 
upon the surface of a mirror held before the mouth 
and nose ; or by placing a cup of water on the 

* Kite, Lond. 1788. f Expt. 4, 5, 6, 21. 

* Exp. 7, 9, 28. § Exp. 1, 12. |] Exp. 4, 6. 



14 

lower part of the breast-bone, and observing the 
agitation produced on its surface by the motions 
of the chest. The presence of the usual signs of 
death are not infallible: the body may be rigid, 
cold, and livid; the face black, cadaverous, and 
swollen ; the eyes glassy or clear,* flaccid, heavy, 
dull, and fixed, or prominent and bloodshot; the 
mouth covered with froth; the pupils dilated ; the 
jaws and extremities rigid, and inflexible, and 
the body pervaded with universal coldness, and 
yet recovery may take place. f 

Favourable anticipations have been taken from 
the natural complexion of the face ; Portal records 
a case of death from fixed air, in which, the eyes 
and whole countenance had the appearance of 
health ; the fluidity of the blood is also an uncer- 
tain indication, because it is produced by other 
causes, and as in drowned animals at least it is not 
universal,^ its certainty as a test is rendered still 
more questionable. The flexible state of the joints 

* Reports of the Lond. Hum. Soc. vol. i. p. 87. 

f See Kite, Lond. p 94. Ibid, p. 15, for the case of a child 
which was smothered in a bed and restored to life notwith- 
standing the face was black and swollen. See the same work 
from 1774 to 1784, p. 87, for a case of recovery, in which the 
pupils were dilated and the eyes had lost their lustre, as quot- 
ed by Currie, p. 107. 

* See Exp. 11, 1.5, 27, 31, 14, 27, 46. 



15 

is insufficient ; the relaxation of the sphincter is 
not absolute ; in the cat, it seldom if ever takes 
place.* Even signs of putrefaction are not cer- 
tain indications of death ; lobsters often have a 
putrefactive smell, when alive; Huxham mentions, 
that the texture of the body is sometimes loose in 
scurvy, and emits a horrible stench sometime be- 
fore death ; in the last stage of yellow fever the 
perspiration has a cadaverous odour, for hours be- 
fore life has ceased : Morton records a case of dis- 
ease, in which the surgeon fainted from the smell 
of the blood, in performing the operation of vene- 
section. Abscesses are sometimes attended with 
putrid discharges: Van Swieten mentions a case 
of long retention of urine, which on evacuation, 
was so noxious, as to produce a peripneumony in 
the attending surgeorr. Persons have been fre- 
quently resuscitated when life has been suspended 
after typhus fever, a disease, in which symptoms 
of putrefaction may take place, and notwithstand- 
ing the patient recover. It may, however, be 
only confined to the secretions, and should from 
the facts above stated at least render our prognosis 
from this sign with regard to the issue of the case 
doubtful, and encourage proper endeavours to se- 
cure recovery. If putrefaction should be the result 

* Exp. 8, 10, 11, &c. 



16 

of general causes, it is evident the issue must be 
fatal. The irritability of the iris is considered by- 
Oswald, as the best test of remaining life,* also 
the sensibility of the internal membrane of the 
trachea, and the want of contractility of the mus- 
cles of the glottis, evinced by the presence of wa- 
ter in the lungs; an effect which, in all probability, 
never takes place till after complete death.f 

Electricity has been proposed as a stimulus, to 
discover the remains of life ;% and as according to 
Kite the irritability has continued 23 hours and 
40 minutes after death, in the right auricle of the 
heart, its application may be useful.^ 

The appearances observed on the examination 
of bodies after death from submersion are various. 

The external surface of the brain has been found 
to be darker than usual ; the vessels are described 
by Goodwyn,|| as being turgid without extravasa- 
tion; by Oswald and Kite, extremely full of black 
bloody and never moderately distended ; a cir- 
cumstance, which might be inferred from the 

* Oswald on the phen. of suspd. animal life, p. 63. Philad. 
1802. 

fSee Kite, p. 113. i See Kite, Lond. 1795. p. 113. 

§ Ibid. p. 114. Note. 

|| Goodwyn on the connection of life, &c. London, 1788. 

H Oswald on the phen. of suspd. animal life, p. 23, Philada. 
1802. 



17 

swelling and livid colour of the face, and the stop- 
page of blood in the right ventricle of the heart. 

Kite, in other cases, found the vessels of the 
brain in several instances free from turgidity, in 
others rather empty. The time, which elapsed 
before examination, might have produced this 
difference ; a conclusion, which the following ob- 
servation would seem to confirm : the right auricle 
of the heart, and of course the superior cava, and 
its venous terminations, in a man who had been 
hanged, was found turgid by Harvey, on opening 
him before his face had lost its redness; on the 
next day, its turgidity had entirely disappeared.* 
In two dogs, which were drowned for dissection, 
De Haen found the brain distended with blood ; 
in four others, this appearance was not seen.f In 
my experiments, the veins and vessels of the brain 
have been found sometimes pale and empty, at 
others, turgid. :j: 

The lungs contain generally a frothy liquid,^ 

* Kite in the recovery of the apparently dead, p. 31, Lond, 
1778 ; and Expts. 57, 58, 59, in which a contrary effect was ob- 
served. 

f Kite's Essay, 1788, quoting De Haen's Rat. Medend. con* 
tinuat. 

♦ Expts. 2, 7, 8, 10, 11. 

§ Goodwyn on the connection, &c. London, 1788, 



B 2 



18 

and are much collapsed, enclosing some air,* and 
after a long submersion are filled with water ; the 
pulmonary veins and arteries are full of black 
blood. According to Oswald, the lungs in pro- 
portion to the size of the animal contain from one 
to fifty cubic inches of air: Kite found them in a 
complete state of expiration.f Coleman found in 
one experiment, the lungs to contain half a drachm 
of air; when distended, 16 drachms ; sometimes 
scarcely a particle was collected; in this caseGood- 
wyn supposes the lungs were emptied by the pres- 
sure of the atmosphere, and Coleman, that expira- 
tion is continued, till all the air is expelled. 

Kite and Goodwyn founds no water in the 
lungs, when drowned in a coloured liquid, result- 
ing, no doubt, from the irritability of the glottis. 
It is sufficient to state that there is generally little 
fluid of any kind found in the lungs till the glot- 
tis is relaxed by death, when they become full of 
water. § When the animal breathes after emer- 
sion, the lungs are redder and contain some air; 

* Coleman dissert, on su9pd. respiration, &c. p. 82, Lond. 
1791, and also p. 99. 

| Kite, Lond. 1788, also Gummer. See Sandifo*t, thesaur. de 
mort. Submersor. 

$ Kite's Essay, 1788, London. 

§ Kite's Essay, 17^8, Lond. quoting De Haen, rat. med. con- 
tinuat. See Haller quoted by Gummer in Sandiforl. thesaur. 



19 

the thorax is more distended, and the veins near 
the heart are sometimes less full of blood: the 
trachea sometimes contains froth or water.* 

Coleman found the two vence cava, the right 
sinus venosus, auricle, and ventricle, and pulmo- 
nary artery loaded with blood ;f the right auricle, 
ventricle, the left sinus venosus, and left ventricle 
are filled, and the left ventricle only half filled 
with black blood, according to Goodwyn ; Oswald 
found the left sinus venosus and auricle only 
half full, whilst the trunks and smaller branches 
of the arteries, proceeding from the left ventricle, 
contained a quantity of black blood. Coleman 
found the quantity of blood in the right ventricle, 
compared to that in the left, in the proportion of 
twelve to seven, when examined immediately af- 
ter death by tying up the two cava?, aorta, and pul- 
monary artery ; whilst the proportion of the right 
to the left was two to one,' after the action of the 
heart had ceased. These proportions, however, 
sometimes varied ; in some cases they were as se- 
ven to four, five to two, and twelve to seven; the 
medium ratio was one and six-eighths. 

According to my observation, the heart and the 

* Expt. 2, 7, 10, 11, 16. 

-j- Coleman a Dissert. &c. p. 82, Lond. 1791. Kite's Essays, 
p. 210, et seq. also London, 1795. 



20 

blood-vessels, generally, with some slight varia- 
tions, presented the following appearances : the 
veins of the neck, venae cavse, and axillary veins, 
the right auricle and ventricle, full of black 
blood;* the pulmonary artery containing some; 
the pulmonary veins distended, the left auricle 
and ventricle nearly empty, but in some cases mo- 
derately full, and the aorta containing very little 
blood. 

When the resuscitation is partial the two sides 
of the heart are more equally distended, and the 
venae cavse less filled with blood from the effect 
of the circulation being longer continued. f 

The stomach was found, by Coleman, to con- 
tain, generally, a little water ^ Haller says, often 
none ; the intestines never contain any water. § 
De Haen, in thirteen experiments, found no wa- 
ter in the stomach, with which those of Kite en- 
tirely agree. || 

In some few instances I have found some wa- 
ter in this organ.f] The peristaltic motion, ac- 
cording to my observations, generally, and to those 

* Expts. 1, 2, 3, 8, 10, 11, 14, 16, 41, 57, 58, 59, 36. 
| Exp. 7. i Coleman a Dissert, p. 82, London, 1791. 

§ See Sandifort's Thesaur. art. Gummer. Rxderer, quoted 
by the same author. 

H Kite's Essay, London, 1788. % Expts. 34, 36. 



21 

of Coleman, never continues as long as the con- 
tractions of the heart. 

The bladder is frequently much distended in 
death from asphyxia.* Davy also makes the 
same remark. f I have seen it in one instance. 

The body generally becomes stiff in an hour 
after submersion, and in the cat, according to my 
observation, it never remains permanently flexi- 
ble.} 

On opening drowned animals immediately after 
death from submersion, the heart is found pulsat- 
ing; and, according to Berger, it continues for 
two, three, or more hours after exposure to the 
atmosphere, and when it was not exposed it soon 
ceased to pulsate, reviving on the readmission of 
the air.§ 

In nitrous air it ceased to beat in an hour ; in 
hydrogen in forty-five minutes ; in carbonic acid 
in thirty-five minutes. A cat drowned at the 
same time, and laid in the water for the same pe- 
riod, exhibited contractions of the heart on open- 
ing the thorax, and exposure to the air continued 
its pulsations for seven hours, its colour becoming 

* Portal quoted by Bichat on life and death, Phil. Ed. 1809, 
p. 231. 

f See Davy on nit. oxide. * Exp. 2, 3, 10, 11. 

§ See Jackson's Essay on Suspend. Animat. p. 82, Phil. 1808. 



22 

scarlet and the auricles beating more frequently 
and much more strongly. 

The irritability of the different sides of the 
heart is various; according to Oswald it remain- 
ed an equal length of time in both:* in some in- 
stances the heart was found wholly destitute of 
irritability and insensible to the stimulus of galva- 
nism: submersion in carbonic acid gas, in some 
cases, exhausted that quality, and, according to 
Coleman, it continued for twenty-four hours after 
respiration had ceased. 

In no instance have I observed it to contract as 
long as twelve hours after death. Its motions are 
certainly increased by exposure to the air, on di- 
viding the pericardium,! which renders it also 
more sensible to the stimulus of electricity. I 
have observed it to contract after clots had form- 
ed in its cavities ;'| the puncture of the cava and 
the pulmonary artery renews its contractions af- 
ter they have ceased, § and generally increases 
them. 

The muscles lose their irritability sooner than 
the intestines and the heart. 

The blood is rendered black by submersion, 

• See Oswald on the phen. of Suspend Life, Phil. 180 '. 
f Exps. 9, 46, 51, 52. $ Exp. 33, 40. 

§ Exp. 13, 16, 17, 22, 



and those animals which are drowned in water of 
a high temperature, have it equally dark colour- 
ed in the arteries and veins ;* according to the 
observations of Coleman, the blood of animals, 
drowned in water at 98°, is of a higher colour than 
that of the veins ; and, contrary to the observation 
of Hunter,f I have found it sometimes coagulat- 
ed4 The surface of the heart and lungs appear 
to have the power of coagulating the blood effus- 
ed upon them.§ 

The blood-vessels, according to the observation 
of Phillips, communicate to the blood an irregular 
motion, even after the parts have become cold, 
and for seventy-five minutes after the heart was 
removed in one instance; he supposes|j that it will 
continue for several hours after death; a fact 
which demonstrates the necessity of continuing 
our efforts to resuscitate the drowned persons 
longer than is generally practised. 

It was thought proper to examine the state of 
the temperature in animals after submersion, to 
determine exactly the progress of its decline and 
its share in the production of death, particularly 
as this quality has been observed to exhibit some 

* Oswald on the phen. Sic. Phil. 1802. 

f Hunter on the Blood, p. 22, Phil. Edit. 

* Expt. 11, 15, 27, 31, 33, 46. ^ Expt. 63. 
] Phillips' expl. enquiry, p. 209-10. 



24 

strange anomalies; thus an hybernating animal, 
kept in air of a very low temperature, and having 
that of its body reduced to nearly the same de- 
gree, after some time, had its temperature raised 
to the natural standard, as was supposed by Hun- 
ter, merely by the effort of the system, to heal a 
wound in the abdomen made for the purpose of 
introducing a thermometer. It was suspected 
some sustaining power like this might exist after 
death from submersion, and the following obser- 
vations were made: 

After submersion in water of 85° of Fahrenheit 
for five minutes, the air being of the same tempe- 
rature, the surface cooled down to 92°: removed 
to the air, in ten minutes it fell to 90°, in fifteen 
minutes it fell to 89°, in thirty minutes to 88°, in 
fifty-two minutes the interior of the abdomen had 
fallen to 84°, when that of the room was 78°; — 
results produced principally by the suppression 
of the circulation, as the application of the tour- 
niquet to an extremity of a living person produces 
the same depression of temperature. 

In another instance the temperature of the ex- 
terior surface of the abdomen was 89° in air of 
85° after two hours had elapsed, and in rather 
more than two hours and a quarter, the heat of 
the animal, below the abdominal muscles, was 



25 

92°.* In another instance, in twenty minutes af- 
ter emersion, the surface of the abdomen was 88% 
the air being 81°.f In a temperature of 732% 
when the head of the animal only was submersed 
and the body kept perfectly dry, the temperature 
of the exterior of the abdomen, in fifteen minutes, 
was 92°. In forty-five minutes^: it remained at 
92° ; in one hundred and forty minutes it fell to 
83°. In another experiment, in the same circum- 
stances and temperature, the heat of the exterior 
of the abdomen fell to 90° in fifteen minutes ; to 
86° in forty-five minutes ; and to 76° in one hun- 
dred and forty-five minutes ;§ whilst in another 
animal, immersed in water of 60° cooling down to 
42° by the addition of ice, in forty- five minutes, 
the temperature fell to 75° of Fahrenheit. || 

The strength and vigour of the animal, I have 
observed, certainly retards the reduction of the 
temperature, and water being a better conductor 
than air, favours the dissipation of the heat in pro- 
portion to their high or low degrees, as the above 
experiments show. 

With regard to the effect of air of a higher tem- 
perature in submersed animals, it would appear 
that in one instance, when applied in the degree 

* See Expts. I, 2. t See Expt. 4. 

? Expt. 10. § Exp. 11. (1 Expt. 15. 

C 



26 

of 160°, in twenty minutes it rose to 106° ;* in 
another in the degree of 150°, in thirty-five mi- 
nutes after immersion the body was 10.4° ; in air of 
120°, in thirty-three minutes it rose to 106° ;f and 
of 111°, in not quite one-third of this time, the 
heat of the animal was 102°. So that, like the re- 
duction of temperature, the power of the resist- 
ance to the reception of heat depends much upon 
the peculiar constitution of the animal. Other 
observations have been made; these are sufficient 
to illustrate this position, that animals in asphyxia 
have the power of resisting the communication of 
high degrees of heat, and prove that the powers of 
life, in this respect, continue for some time after 
their suspension. 

* See Expt. 56. f See Expt. 24. 



ON THE MODE 



THE CAUSES OF ASPHYXIA OPERATE. 



Platerus in 1564, Borelli in 1680, Walsch- 
miot, Littrius, and Becker in 1 704, attributed as- 
phyxia to defect of air: Dethardingius in 1714 be- 
lieved that death proceeded from the expansion 
of the lungs ; Senac, Leprottus, Winslow, Kaau, 
Boerhaave, supposed it to be owing to defect of 
air and to apoplexy: Louis to the stoppage of the 
circulation by pressure on the surface ; Raederer 
to infarction of the lungs; Evers to the suppres- 
sion of the motion of the heart, produced by the 
superior weight and coldness of the water; and 
Villiers to cold, suffocation, and apoplexy. Hal- 
ler and Engleman believed that death was owing 
to the loss of the elasticity of the air and the curv- 
ed state of the vessels, and the consequent stop- 



28 

page of the circulation by the exhaustion and col- 
lapse of the lungs.* 

The opinions, with regard to the causes of 
death from submersion, may be referred to cold, 
to loss of circulation, to apoplexy, and to defect of 
air: the reasons which support these opinions are 
as follows : 

1. Cold. — This cause does not produce death 
from submersion, for animals die sooner when 
drowned in warm, than in cold water ;f besides 
exposure for a long time to water of a low tem- 
perature does not produce death, provided respi- 
ration be continued, and frequently after submer- 
sion death is complete, though the temperature, 
does not, for a considerable time, decline to a de- 
gree inconsistent with life 4 yet in these cases 
spontaneous recovery did not take place, which 
should have happened had want of heat been the 
cause of death: cold, no doubt, assists, because it 
debilitates the body when long applied, in a high 
or low degree. 

2. Loss of circulation. — The pulse ceases, ac- 
cording to Oswald, between two and three mi- 
nutes after submersion, and it continues, with the 

* Sandifort Thesaurus Dissert. Jac. Gummer. de causa mort. 
submers. 1768, Roterodam. 

f See Art. Gummer. in Sandifort Thesaur. 1768, Roterod. 

• Expt. 10, 11. 






29 

other functions, an indefinite length of time when 
the breathing is continued ; though the body be im- 
mersed in water, it is evident the stoppage of the 
circulation is not the cause of drowning, but an 
effect. 

3. Apoplexy. — From the fulness and slowness 
of the pulse observed in about one minute after 
submersion ; from the lividness of the gums and 
face; also from the hemorrhagies from the nose 
and ears of divers, the sense of fulness of the head 
when the same air is breathed for a long time, or 
the breath is entirely suspended, it is evident that 
appearances resembling apoplexy must take place 
in submersion, and dissection gives some support 
to this position, for the vessels of the brain are 
sometimes found turgid ; but as there is no extra- 
vasation, and as frequently there is no turgidity 
in the vessels, on the contrary they are perfectly 
empty, and as death generally takes place in four 
minutes, and sometimes in two or three, and even 
in one minute after submersion, it is evident that 
apoplexy cannot be the cause, for this disease, in 
its natural form, sometimes continues for days, and 
generally for hours, with a full and bounding pulse, 
great distention of the vessels of the head, and even 
extravasation without producing death: besides 
the turgidity of the vessels sometimes seen after 
death from submersion is not owing entirely to in- 
c 2 



3<D 

creased action of the arteries as in apoplexy, but 
more to a remora of the circulation in the veins, 
caused by the fulness of the right auricle and the 
compressed state of the thorax and lungs, produc- 
ed by the weight of the atmosphere, and the wa- 
ter, and the contraction of the arterial system af- 
ter death, and in proof of this circumstance, the 
veins of the axilla are found equally distended 
with those of the brain, from the influence of these 
causes.* The experiments of Coleman, however, 
put it beyond all doubt. The vessels of the brain 
were exposed immediately after death from sub- 
mersion for four minutes, and they were found less 
distended than usual. The carotids of a dog were 
secured in order to prevent apoplexy ; in half an 
hour he was submersed; life ceased in four mi- 
nutes, and the vessels of the brain were found 
less distended than in ordinary death; of course 
apoplexy cannot be the cause.f 

4. Defect of Air, or Suffocation. — As we know 
that respiration is essential to life, and that sub- 
mersion may be safely continued for a longtime, 
if respiration be not suspended, and as death is 
the immediate consequence of the suppression of 
this function, the conclusion is certain, that suffo- 
cation is the cause : 

* Expt. 32. t Coleman % Dissert. &c. Lond. 1791. 






SI 



Accordingly we now proceed to detail the cir- 
cumstances, on which perfect respiration depends, 
in order to expose the subject in all its lights, and 
then deduce the most approved mode of cure. 



Of the function of respiration as the place of origin 
of Suspended Animation. 

The phenomena of respiration are, mechani- 
cal, chemical and vital. After the air is inspir- 
ed, the lungs, consisting of a vesicular structure, 
absorb the oxygen and leave the azote, mixed 
with some carbonic acid, formed during the pro- 
cess. 

Mechanical Phenomena. As a general posi- 
tion, the duration of the scarlet colour formed 
during respiration depends upon the quantity of 
air, contained in the lungs, diminishing in inten- 
sity as the oxygen disappears; the agitation pro- 
duced by these organs also prolongs it;* yet, if 
the lungs be violently distended and the air al- 
ready in them does not escape, oxygenation is re- 
tarded; even if the residuum in the lungs be ex- 
hausted, and fresh air be injected, the scarlet co- 

* Bichat physio, research. Phil. 1809, p. 213, 



32 

lour is not so soon produced, as by natural respi- 
ration.* It is then important to ascertain exactly 
the number of natural respirations, in order to 
produce the greatest possible effect in resuscita- 
tion; particularly, as inflation produces the tem- 
perature, and retards its decline, as well as 
oxygenates the blood. f According to Kite, the 
lungs receive three hundred cubic inches of air, 
and the chest in every minute makes about ten 
respirations; to Davy twenty-seven or twenty- 
eight. 

When the body is bent in a sitting posture, near 
a table, and the thorax expanded itself with some 
difficulty, thirteen respirations were made in a mi- 
nute, according to my observations; when the 
back leaned against a chair, and the thorax was 
free, nine respirations were performed. Respira- 
tion is affected by the state of the mind, even by 
attention to the experiment. 

In the morning after breakfast two respirations 
in a minute were found sufficient for the space of 
one minute ; during the second three were neces- 
sary. When the experiment was repeated in the 
evening two respirations in the minute were suf- 
ficient for the support of life, and could be con- 



* Bichat physio, research. Phil. 1809, p. 217. 
t Philip's enq. p. 215, Phil. Edit. 1818. 



33 

tinued for three minutes; afterwards three were 
necessary, and even these produced, after some 
time, some slight fulness of the head. On repeat- 
ing it I found that I could subsist with comfort 
on three respirations in a minute ; the experiment 
lasted for twelve minutes, and there was no appa- 
rent diminution in the power of continuing them. 
A middle number of respirations between three 
and thirteen in a minute, inci'easing according to 
circumstances, is, then, about the natural standard. 

The degree of pressure occasioned by inflation 
also causes a difference betAveen natural and arti- 
ficial respiration.* When air is forced into the 
lungs with great violence, emphysema is the re- 
sult in the breast and neck ; and when the force 
is only moderate, the air passes, in a separate 
state, into the arteries,f an effect which has taken 
place, even in colic, from the pressure produced 
by the spasms ; also sometimes in greatly hurried 
respiration.:]: 

In my experiments, the air forced into the lungs 
with some violence by the bellows, rose on the sur- 
face of the exposed lungs, like bubbles oozing 



* Philip's enquiry, Phil. Ed. 
f Bichat phys. researches, p. 249, 247. 
% See Morgagni and Pechlin, quoted by Bichat phy. re- 
searches, p. 249. 



34 

from mud, and passed to the surface of the peri- 
cardium and into the cavity of the abdomen near 
and behind the kidneys.* On the contrary, the 
effect of artificial respiration, when too little or 
rarefied air is injected into the lungs, equally re- 
tards oxygenation. 

After the air is admitted into the lungs, its oxy- 
genous portion unites with the blood, produces the 
scarlet colour, and forms carbonic acid, which is 
discharged by the mechanical actions of this vis- 
cus. 

The oxygen of the atmosphere appears to be 
equally necessary to the vegetable and the animal 
world : Davy found that plants looked better, but 
for a shorter time in oxygen than in atmospheric 
air :j bees, snails, (helix pomatia),+ slugs, (Umax 
flavus),§ destroyed the oxygen completely: SpaJ- 
lanzani found that the helix vivipara, an aquatic 
animal, ceased to change the air at the temperature 
of freezing : near the bottom, they consumed only 
half the air, which they did when allowed to 
breathe at the surface; and when they breathed 

* See Expt. 41, 42. 

f Davy on nit. oxide. Hub. Mem sur la Germin. &c. and 
Sennebicr. See Ellis, an enq. into the changes, &.C. Edin, 
1807. 

i Vauquelin, quoted by the same. 
§ Spallan. quoted by the same, p. 73, 74,75 



35 

the air alone, the oxygen was destroyed without 
the azote being the least diminished;* some am- 
phibious animals, as the sea tortoise, will live in 
the hold of a vessel or in the bottom of a hogs- 
head for many months, though the air be impure. 
Birds die before half the oxygen is consumed : a 
mouse and a guinea pig expired when about three 
fourths of the gas had disappeared, though the 
carbonic acid was withdrawn.! Spallanzani ob- 
served that birds and quadrupeds do not consume 
more than j\% parts of the oxygen, and sometimes 
only 17 or 16 T ^%- parts, and then die, though the 
fixed air be removed, proving clearly that air fre- 
quently renewed is absolutely necessary for the 
existence of these animals. It would then appear 
that as we ascend the series of animation, the 
higher orders require air better ventilated than the 
lower. 

Atmospheric air appears to be necessary to all 
species and orders of living beings, for it has been 
satisfactorily proved that oxygen, when pure, will 
produce convulsions, debility, and death, though 
the carbonic acid be removed by lime water.:): It 
causes a sensation of warmth in the lungs, great 
excitement, an increase of strength, fulness and 



* Ellis, p. 76. f Ibid. 

4 Higgins' Phil. Expts. Lond.1795, p. 146 et seq, 



36 

frequency of the pulse, rising, in one instance, to 
ninety, in another to one hundred and twenty 
beats in a minute, when sixty-four was the natu- 
ral number in the same period. In the experi- 
ments of Davy, oxygen produced oppressed res- 
piration, though little of the oxygen had been con- 
sumed.* He also found that man and the mouse 
consume less oxygen, and produce less carbonic 
acid, when they breathe in pure oxygen, than in 
common air.f There can be no doubt, then, that 
the dilution of the atmosphere by azote renders 
it more favourable to the support of animal life, 
and that pure oxygen is improper for resuscita- 
tion. 

Habit, however, has a great effect on the power 
of animals to breathe air already tainted by res- 
piration ; Priestley found that those animals which 
breathe pure air will die sooner in impure air 
than those which have been accustomed to it4 

Natural peculiarity of constitution has also an 
influence; certain fishes die immediately on being 
exposed to the atmosphere; others live many 
hours: all the organs of the body have various de- 
grees of strength in different individuals; one per- 
son recovers from drowning, though he has been 

* Davy on nit. oxide. f Ibid, p. 442-4. 

* Kite, Lond. 1788. 



37 

submersed for half an hour, simply by the effect 
of rest and the sun ; another dies irrecoverably 
after immersion but for one minute. Such is the 
effect of constitution. 

Other circumstances also have an agency; and, 
in general, any cause which debilitates or strength- 
ens the system, or changes the qualities of the 
atmosphere, produces difficulty or freedom of 
breathing.- 

In this country, during the prevalence of cold 
and dry winds from the north and west, the tone 
of the system is increased and the lungs play with 
ease; on the contrary, when the system is bathed 
in vapour by the eastern winds, which blow over 
the ocean, and particularly in warm seasons, the 
system is weakened and the breathing is oppress- 
ed. The same effect is produced by respiring 
frequently from a vessel of small capacity,* by the 
impurity of the atmosphere of crowded rooms, 
and of museums; by the debility of the system pro- 
duced by fear, horror, fatigue, digestion, fever, 
dropsy, gout, consumption, or other chronic dis- 
eases. 

It would appear, then, that the lungs should 
perform their functions properly, the air must 
consist of the proper proportions of oxygen and 

* Prof. Pfaff quoted by Ellis in an enquiry, 0. Edin. 1807, 
D 



azote, have a due and not excessive degree of 
moisture, and be freed from noxious vapours by 
ventilation. 

After the air is admitted into the lungs it unites 
with the blood ; Priestley and Cigna found that ve- 
nous blood becomes florid at its surface, when ex- 
posed to the atmosphere, thuugh covered and de- 
fended by a thick stratum of serum.* The expe- 
riments of Hooke prove that it combined with 
the blood after the natural and mechanical mo- 
tions of the thorax were suspended by opening it; 
and of Brodie, that oxygen was absorbed and cai*- 
bonic acid formed in the same condition of the 
lungs.f 

It would, then, appear from the most demon- 
strative and conclusive evidence, that after appa- 
rent death respiration may be continued, and also 
that its peculiar changes on the blood may be pro- 
duced. 

After explaining the causes which affect the 
strength and perfection of the organs of respira- 
tion, we proceed to explain the mode of operation 
of those causes which entirely suppress it, and 
produce asphyxia. 

It was stated, in the commencement of this me- 

* Davy on Nit. Oxide, p. 445. 
f See (Jroonian Lecture, 1810. 



moir, that the various species of asphyxia were es- 
sentially the same ; we shall now attempt to prove 
this position by showing the effects of the noxious 
gases, suspension, &c, and thus prepare for the 
discussion of modes of cure, which shall compre- 
hend them all. 

Oxygen, when pure, is unfavourable to animal 
life, and produces convulsions and death, as irf 
submersion, though not so speedily;* nitrous ox- 
ide, according to Davy,f destroys warm-blooded 
animals much sooner than oxygen, but not so soon 
as the non-respirable gases; the larger and the 
old live longer in it than small and young ani- 
mals: vegetables also die in it;i. a butterfly died 
in half a minute, and a fly in the same time:§ 
fishes and lizards, (as happens in water freed from 
its air,) do not die so speedily in this gas. Ani- 
mals die in nitrous gas in the space of from one 
to five minutes, which corresponds, pretty exactly, 
with the effects of submersion, |J and the appear- 
ances after death resembled those from the latter 
cause,^| with these differences, that the blood in 
the left side of the heart and the aorta was more 
purple, and the irritability disappeared sooner, 

* See p. 5J. f Davy on Nitrous Oxide, p. 366, 

* Ibid/ p„ 563, § Ibid, p. 371, 

!! Ibid, p, 339—40. 1 1bid, p. 346, 



4U 

than when the animal is killed by a blow.* This 
sudden loss of irritability often appears after 
drowning, and the purple spots in the lungs, men- 
tioned by Davy, sometimes are seen, particularly 
if the animal has breathed .during submersion. 
Equal parts of nitrous oxide and hydrogen killed 
in the same manner, and with the same appear- 
ances after death. f Three parts of hydrogen and 
one of nitrous oxide destroyed a mouse in a mi- 
nute. Pure hydrogen could not be respired more 
than three quaiters of a minute; giddiness, mus- 
cular debility, a feeble pulse and a sense of suffo- 
cation were the result.;}: The same symptoms 
occur in submersion in about the same period. 
Azote, in union with a small proportion of car- 
bonic acid, produce the same effects: nitrous gas, 
sulphurated hydrogen, and hydro-carbonated gases 
also destroy in the same period, with this excep- 
tion, that it has been believed that the two former 
are absorbed, and the latter produces in the blood 
a red colour; in other respects, the essential symp- 
toms, the state of the lungs, heart', and brain arc 
entirely the same as in submersion. 

Carbonic acid, according to Davy, is irrespira- 

* Davy on Nitrous Oxide., p. 34S, See a Diss, on Nit. Oxide. 
by W. P. C. Barton, 1808, p. 70. 

f Davy on Nitrous Oxide, p. 358. tbidj p. 406. 



41 

ble from the closure of the glottis ; another cir- 
cumstance, in which it resembles water in its ef- 
fects; the limbs in death from the former do not 
generally grow stiff: this sometimes happens in 
death from submersion. 

It is stated, by Currie, that Dr. Black observed 
that birds immersed in carbonic acid gas were not 
so speedily killed when their nostrils were stop- 
ped with suet as when they were left open, prov- 
ing that this gas operates upon the nervous sys- 
tem in producing death :* these results are con- 
firmed by Ur. Rousseau, an ingenious physician 
of this city, who states, that when the nostrils 
are closed the inhalation of carbonic acid is not 
deleterious. It is most probable that it acts both 
by excluding oxygen from the irritation of the 
glottis, which fixed air always produces, and also 
that it has a narcotic effect on the olfactory nerves. 
In Russia it is believed, by Dr. Guthrie, when a 
thaw succeeds a frost of long duration, that the 
thin plate of ice which forms upon the windows, 
on thawing, gives out a principle which is suppos- 
ed to be the carbonic ncid discharged by respira- 
tion, and which produces all the deleterious ef- 

* See Black's lectures on chemistry, edited by Professor Ro- 
bison, vol. ii. p. S7, quoted by Currie, p. 129, 
O 2 



42 

fects of this gas.* This subject, according to thi* 
gentleman, has been rigorously examined, and no 
other source can be discovered for this noxious 
vapour, as the stoves are found to be perfectly 
tight. 

From these facts it appears that the non-respi- 
rabl« gases, as far as they have been, examined, 
produced essentially the same phenomena, when 
applied to the lungs, as water in submersion, and 
also in the same period. Convulsions frequently 
occur during immersion in these airs, as also in 
water, and the same irregular affections, pains in 
the head, drowsiness and giddine&s for some time 
after recovery. 

Suspension by the cord kills also by the exclu- 
sion of respirable air from the lungs. Munro 
hung a dog, in whose trachea an opening was 
made below the place of pressure, and the animal 
lived: in three quarters of an hour the rope was 
placed below the opening in the trachea so as to 
prevent respiration, and the animal soon died. 
The jugulars and the carotids have been tied and 
life has been prolonged for weeks, proving that 
death from strangulation is not produced by pres- 

* See Phil. Transact. Lond. Vol. lxis. p. 325, for 177% fe 
quoted by Currie, p. 130. 



43 

Sure on the blood-vessels:* nor is compression of 
the nerves of the neck the cause; otherwise in the 
esneriment of Munro above related, the animal 
would have died immediately and before the pres- 
sure was made below the hole in the trachea: The 
nerves, which are liable to be affected by suspen- 
sion, are the great sympathetic and the par va- 
gum ; a ligature on these nerves does not de- 
stroy life for some time ;f whereas, in suspension, 
death is the result in a few minutes. Pressure 
on the spinal marrow cannot take place without a 
fracture of the vertebrae, which does not always 
occur; in animals, the subject of these experi- 
ments, never; yet death, in about the same period 
as in submersion, uniformly is the result. The 
symptoms felt on suspension, and described by 
those who have recovered, are similar to those ex- 
perienced after submersion,^: and the same appear- 
ances observed after death, in both varieties of 
this disease. § 

* See Kite on, &c. 1788, Lond. p. 198. 

fSee Bichat phy. res. p. 259, Phil. Edit. 

4 See the Repts. of the Hum, Soc. for 1785-6, p, 138, 

■§ See Coleman, 



From what has been already stated, the opera- 
tion of the causes of death in this disease, which 
arise from the mechanical and chemical functions 
of the lungs, can now be understood. The divi- 
sion of the eighth pair and of the upper parts of 
the spinal marrow, supplying the glottis, the mus- 
cles of inspiration, and the diaphragm, destroys 
the vital powers of respiration: By wounds in the 
chest; by a strong compression of the abdomen and 
thorax, and by a great accumulation of fluid in the 
cavity of the chest ; the mechanical functions of the 
lungs are suspended. The operation of rarefied 
air, of submersion, of noxious gases, and a closure 
of the trachea by natural or artificial means, pre- 
vent the chemical changes of the lungs and thus 
produce the disease. 

Those which arise from causes affecting the vi- 
tal phenomena of the body remain. Of these, the 
first is cold. In order to explain the operation of 
this agent, it will be necessary to examine the ge- 
neral relations of animal temperature, without en- 
tering into a discussion, with regard to its origin, 
which would exceed the limits of this essay. 

The heat of the animal is intimately connected 
with life, and is a necessary agent in supporting it. 
From some experiments performed and carefully 
repeated, I have found the temperature of animals 



45 

to decline in proportion to the distance from the 
heart: its power of preservation also is less consi- 
derable in the more distant than in the central 
parts of the body : the feet first lose their heat in 
dying, and on exposure to intense cold: the power 
of generating this fluid also depends much upon 
the strength of the system : those who are conva- 
lescent are more susceptible of changes of tempe- 
rature, and are more liable to cold feet and chills 
over the whole body ; the phlegmatic and the drop- 
sical are more sensible to cold in winter than the 
sanguine, and this in the parts most distant from 
the heart. Palsy also takes away the power of 
preserving the temperature,^ and it is certain 
that the debilitating passions' of the mind lessen 
this power, proving that the state of the brain and 
the system generally contribute to this effect: the 
nerves and the blood-vessels also are intimately 
concerned in this function: a ligature on either of 
these structures lowers the temperature and affects 
the powers of preservation in the parts on Avhich 
they are distributed. It is, therefore, a quality, 
which depends upon the integrity of every part of 
the body, and is more or less affected by every 
thing, which impairs or strengthens it: Thus a 
wound increases the heat of the whole system, if 

* See Earle's Expts. 



46 

considerable enough to excite re-action ; if" in a 
vital organ, it lessens the temperature, if re-action 
does not follow. The effect of wine strengthens 
the system for a time, increases its temperature, 
and debility is the consequence, and a greater sen- 
sibility to cold. 

The most general law, which this quality pre- 
sents, is that its power of preservation, and of 
course its actual degree, diminish in proportion 
to the distance from the heart, and that they both 
increase with the general strength of the system 
when in health, never rising, however, beyond a 
certain temperature, which varies according to the 
class of the animal. 

The symptoms of apparent death from cold are, 
coldness, numbness of the extremities, loss of the 
power of motion, and irresistible propensity to 
sleep, ending in complete asphyxia, and if it should 
continue, in death: the common appearances of 
Avhich are, insensibility, inflexibility of the limbs, 
with the jaws fixed, the teeth clenched, and froth 
issuing from the mouth.* 

The symptoms of recovery observed in the mar- 
mot are deep sighs, with broken and inarticulate 
sounds; the limbs become less rigid, the animal 
stretches out his legs and fetches another still 

* Pee Struvrs' Pract. Essay, p. 52, Alban. 1803. 



4-7 

deeper sigh, opens his eyes, and at length reco- 
vers. 

It is singular, though the temperature be equal 
to that of freezing, the marmot never becomes 
torpid, provided he be kept in the open air instead 
of a close place.* 

This state may be hastened by this circum- 
stance, as the carbonic acid produced during 
breathing would undoubtedly cause asphyxia with- 
out the assistance of cold. 

With regard to the actual power of bearing cold 
possessed by the living system, it appears, from 
the experiments of Hunter, that the temperature- 
of the mouth may be reduced 20° by the applica- 
tion of cold, and the animal sustains no serious 
injury, and that of the urethra 40°. Dead matter 
loses and is increased in temperature more ra- 
pidly than living. The urethra immersed in wa- 
ter, heated to 113° for two minutes, rose to the 
temperature of 100^. Exposed to water heated 
to 118° for some time, it rose to 102?, but no 
higher.! 

In my experiments on animals which had been 
submersed in air of a high temperature, it appear- 

See Buffon's Nat. History of Animals, quoted by A. Fother- 
g\\\ in a new enquiry, §tc. Ed. 1798. 

f See Hunter's Obser. on certain parts gf the Aninj. (Ecob.- 



48 



e* that they received heat more slowly than in 
those of Mr. Hunter. Immersed In air of W 
of Fahrenheit for thirty-five minutes,* the body 
was 104". In air of 120%t in thirty-three minutes, 
h rose to 106% and in air of 111',* in not quite 
one-third of this time, the heat of the animal was 
102°. So that the power of resistance of the ani- 
mal to the reception of heat, even during asphyxia, 
produced by submersion, was considerable. Ani- 
mals placed in air colder than their natural tem- 
perature lost their heat generally in proportion to 
the degree of depression of the medium. 

In a temperature of 60°, in about forty minutes 
it fell to W%j and proportionally less according 
to the higher degree of the air to which they were 
exposed, and varying, in some instances, from 
other causes, as strength of constitution and ab- 
stinence from food: this last result coincides with 
the experiments of Mr. Hunter.j| The male cat 
also preserves its heat after submersion longer 
than the female. 

The operation of cold in producing death is 
easily traced in the symptoms already detailed: 
the sleepiness and comatose disposition, which 

*Expt.l8. fExpt.24. 

iExpt.20. §Expt.44. 

j See Observ. on cert, parts of, &c. fcond. 1792. 



occurs on its first application, prove the weakness 
of the brain ; the numbness, insensibility, and loss 
of voluntary motion show that the functions of the 
nerves and muscles are also debilitated, and at 
length entirely suspended. The blood-vessels 
also lose their power and contribute to this effect. 
From the experiments of Spallanzani the oxyge- 
nation of the blood, which takes place even after 
death, is, by a low temperature, completely pre- 
vented.* Cold then acts, in inducing death, on 
the general powers of life ; the remains of the re- 
spired air are not ejected by the loss of power in 
the muscles of expiration, and the oxygen present 
in the lungs is not assimilated from the want of at- 
traction in the blood ; thus, then, the animal dies 
from the suspension of the mechanical and the 
chemical functions, produced by the general de- 
crease of the vital powers. 

Hunger also operates by inducing debility of 
the powers of life. The muscles of inspiration 
cease to perform their functions, asphyxia takes 
place, and, from the extreme debility, soon termi- 
nates in death. 

The various species of fever produce this final 
change in the same manner. 

All these causes may operate either slowly or 

* See Ellis, p. 76, and p. 34 of this Essay- 



50 



rapidly. The division of the eighth pair of nen es 
may be partial, or combined with that of the spi- 
nal marrow above the origin of the phrenic nerves ; 
the quantity of water injected into the thorax may 
be greater or less ; as also the pressure of tumors 
on the trachea; asphyxia accordingly will be more 
or less sudden. The decline of irritability after 
death, it has been ascertained, will be proportion- 
ed to the duration and violence of the pain which 
has exhausted the animal previously, and of course 
the probability of resuscitation* more or less cer- 
tain. 

We have now attempted to prove that the va- 
rious species of asphyxia resemble each other in 
their origin from the lungs, and the formation of 
blood unfit for the purposes of life. On review- 
ing the causes which produce this disease we find 
that they are allied by close affinities, and that 
they often unite in its formation. The rarefaction 
of the air, want of food, and cold in its higher re- 
gions, all frequently concur in producing death. 
Heat also sometimes combines with rarefaction 
of the air and want of food, as in the noxious 
winds of the deserts of Africa, and frequently acts 
alone, as in the humming-bird, which is said to 

* See Bichat's Phys. Researches. 



51 

become torpid during the summer in South Ame- 
rica. 

It now remains to ascertain exactly what changes 
these various causes effect in the interior of the 
body by which death is produced. 

When the trachea is closed, the blood, in gene- 
ral, begins to change in thirty seconds; in one 
minute its colour is darkened, and it becomes per- 
fectly like venous blood in one minute and a half, 
sooner or later, according as the lungs are more 
or less free fom air. This dark blood is the prin- 
cipal cause of death ; other circumstances, how- 
ever, conspire. 

1st. Mechanical causes. The compressed state 
of the lungs has been considered, by some au- 
thors, as preventing the circulation, but experi- 
ment does not confirm this supposition.* Bichat 
and Coleman found, contrary to the opinions of 
Haller and Cullen, that the circulation went on 
equally well when the lungs were entirely collaps- 
ed or distended ; this fact may be true in cases 
where the heart possesses considerable power, as 
in those on which the experiments were made ; but 
it is certain, that as during asphyxia, this organ 
is much exhausted, that the motion of the lungs 
must have considerable effect in accelerating the 

* Bichat's Phys. Researches, p» 173-4, Phil, Edit. 



it 

blood, as it certainly would have, even in inani- 
mate tubes. The effect they produce by com- 
pressing the contents of the abdomen, and thus 
forcing on the blood through the arteries and the 
veins into the right side of the heart, must be con- * 
siderable. 

Bichat observed that the quantity of blood was 
increased, on dividing the carotid, every time the 
motions of respiration were accelerated by pain, 
though the number of the pulsations of the heart 
was not increased ; proving, clearly, that these mo- 
tions produce ;a great effect upon the condition 
of the blood-vessels, and that, of course, their loss 
must be one of the chain of causes which produce 
death. 

2nd. Chemical causes. According to Good- 
wyn the cause of death is the want of scarlet blood, 
the appropriate stimulus of the left auricle, con- 
fining the seat of the disease entirely to the heart. 
Bichat believes that it is the presence of black 
blood in the vessels of the heart and in all the or- 
gans of the body which produces the effect. 

From my observations, I should conclude that 
the heart was debilitated in its action, first, from 
the effect of black blood in the lungs, lessening, 
by sympathy, the power of this organ; for its ac- 
tion is instantly renewed and invigorated bv in 



S3 

Hation, before the scarlet blood can reach the left 
auricle and ventricle. 

2ndly. The transmission of the black blood into 
the coronary arteries, which takes away the power 
of its fibres ; as it weakens and destroys the func- 
tions of the brain, the nerves, the voluntary mus- 
cles, in fact of most of the organs of the body 
through which it penetrates, as is proved by tying 
up the artery of a limb, and the injection of black 
blood into the carotids — the functions of the brain 
in the latter, and of the nerves and muscles in the 
former, being completely suspended ; it is, there- 
fore, very certain that the fibres and nerves of the 
heart are equally weakened by the contact of black 
blood. That it is not owing to the want of the 
stimulus of the red blood on the interior of the 
left auricle and ventricle as Goodwyn supposes, 
Coleman states that the case of the foetus, whose 
heart moves from the stimulus of black blood, is 
sufficient proof. To this, it may be replied, the 
analogy is not sufficiently strict; for, in foetal life, 
the organs possess properties in many respects 
different form those of the adult. 

It bears asphyxia better than the adult, a qua- 
lity which continues for some time after birth, 
showing that the power of the heart is more inde- 
pendent of the lungs in the foetus than in the adult, 
an important difference, as these two organs are 

E 2 



54 

primary in the production of asphyxia. It is in- 
capable of supporting an independent temperature, 
requiring a degree equal to the mother in order 
to live, and many of its organs, the brain, the 
nerves, the senses, digestion and voluntary mo- 
tion, are almost entirely at rest. It is, therefore, 
improper to make a comparison between them. 
Let us then recur to the facts in the adult system. 
That the scarlet blood can act upon the left au- 
ricle and ventricle, by distention, is satisfactorily 
proved by the injection of black blood into these 
cavities, reproducing their motions after they have 
ceased;* that it operates by its qualities as arte- 
rial blood upon the left side of the heart, it is suf- 
ficient to state that it is its natural stimulus in the 
adult state. A contrary effect, however, is pro- 
duced in the right ventricle, during asphyxia, from 
the distention of the stagnating blood which does 
not pass through the lungs ; for when the vena 
cava, or pulmonary artery, are punctured, the right 
auricle and ventricle resume their contractions, 
even after they have ceased. | This, however, 
would appear to be the case only when the disten- 
tion is considerable, and only with regard to the 
right side of the heart, for in the left ventricle the 

* BichaVs Phys. Researches, p. 179. 
i See Expts. S), 13, 16, 17, 22. 



ss 

irritability is prolonged by tying the aorta and 
confining the blood in its cavity.* The disten- 
tion of the right side of the heart is never exces- 
sive, as appears from gentle pressure with the fin- 
ger, expelling its contents, and from the fact, that 
these cavities of the heart are filled merely by the 
contractility of the veins, which is always weak: 
in consequence, the valves between the auricle and 
ventricle, as also between the latter and the pul- 
monary artery, do not perform their functions 
completely; the blood, accordingly, in the con- 
tractions of the auricle and ventricle is never sent 
into the pulmonary artery, or in very small quan- 
tities, regurgitating into the ventricle, or passing 
between the auricle and ventricle, without even 
distending the pulmonary artery, so that the func- 
tions of this organ are weakened in every respect; 
in the right side by distention, and in the left by 
the want of it during suspended animation. 

It would appear, then, that the interruption of 
respiration places all the parts in a state opposite 
to that of nature, and thus produces death. The 
cavse and venous system generally are much dis- 
tended ; the right side of the heart so much so as 
to exhaust the little remains of irritability of this 
organ ; the pulmonary artery and lungs contain bat 

* See Bichat's Pbys, Researches, 



56 

little blood, a condition equally unnatural, as they 
are deprived both of the stimulus of distention and 
scarlet blood: the pulmonary veins are turgid and 
filled with stagnant blood, and the left auricle and 
ventricle are deprived of red blood, and are empty; 
conditions almost in every instance, the contrary 
of what happens in the living state, showing the 
great power of the lungs and its appropriate sti- 
mulus over the system, thus to overthrow and re- 
verse the qualities of life in all the important or- 
gans ; and leading to the conclusion that it is by 
re-establishing the natural state in each of these 
particulars, that resuscitation will, most probably, 
be effected. 

Bichat has proved satisfactorily, that the brain 
dies by the contact of black blood, and that, of 
course, the suppression of respiration acts in this 
manner on this organ in asphyxia: mechanical dis- 
tention, produced in the increased action of the 
heart, also appears to have some connection with 
this effect. When red blood was injected, by a 
syringe, into the arteries of the brain, the appear- 
ances of life were feeble, and death generally took 
place, a result which might have been expected 
from the rude imitatioji of the arterial action which 
this process presents. We can now explain satis- 
factorily the various phenomena of asphyxia; the 
anxietv first felt in the lungs prove the origin of 



57 

this affection to be in that viscus; the continual 
struggles till death takes place show the violence 
of the feeling; the black blood penetrates the heart 
and is sent with force to the brain, and, in the 
space of forty-live, sixty, or ninety seconds, the 
functions of this organ are entirely suspended, as 
far as regards external objects; a period, which 
corresponds pretty exactly with that of the forma- 
tion of black blood, by the suspension of respira- 
tion, in the experiments of Bichat. 

The pulse, during the loss of the scarlet colour 
of the blood, becomes fuller and slower, from the 
effect produced upon the brain, and gradually de- 
clines till it ceases altogether ; as a proof of which, 
if the animal be permitted to breathe, these changes 
do not take place; the system then exhibits some 
distracted motions, which are the result of the re- 
mains of life in the different parts of the animal, 
displaying, however, the best directed efforts to 
replace it in its original state, by re-establishing 
respiration. 

We proceed, in the following chapter, to as- 
semble all the indications presented by this sur- 
vey of the phenomena of asphyxia, to restore the 
animal to health. 



ON THE 



CURE OF ASPHYXIA. 



First , from Submersion. 

f he body must be recovered from the water, 
stripped, dried, wrapt in warm blankets, and then 
conveyed, with as little agitation as possible, to 
the place of resuscitation. The old custom of 
rolling the patient upon a barrel, or upon the 
ground, of violently shaking, or carrying him over 
the shoulders of another person, with the head 
downward, have been deservedly omitted. Agi- 
tation of the extremities, it is certain, has an ef- 
fect in exciting the heart, for by pulling the aorta, 
the axillary and carotid arteries, the heart being 
exposed to view, its motions were considerably 
increased* as long as any irritability remained ; 
this remedy, however, promises little benefit till 
respiration is established, and the heart begins to 

* Expts. 36, 54, 



59 

recover its power, and then, as in exercise, it may 
increase its motions; it should be confined to the 
upper extremities only, and applied by approach- 
ing the extended arm gently towards the head, and 
restoring it to the side, as by this means, the ax- 
illary artery will be best extended and relaxed. 
If long submersed, inversion of the body, for a 
few seconds, to discharge the water from the lungs, 
may be necessary: it should be done gently and 
with the greatest care. An instrument has been 
proposed for exhausting the water from the lungs ; 
but the above expedient will be sufficient. 

After being well dried with flannel, it should 
be laid upon a litter, a bed, or in a carriage with 
straw; the head gently raised, and the body plac- 
ed in a supine posture : formerly, the patient was 
advised to be placed on one side, rather than upon 
the back, and occasionally upon the breech.* Kite 
recommends a posture in an angle of 20° previous 
to the use of any means of resuscitation; this po- 
sition would have an unfavourable effect, as it 
would increase the pressure and the quantity of 
blood in the right auricle and ventricle, which, 
from observation, has a tendency to weaken their 
motions, and retard the passage of blood, by the 



* Mem. of ¥icentini in Cog'an's translation of the Amsterdam 
Soc. Memoirs, 



60 



pulmonary artery, through the lungs. If the bod> 
be raised and the head depressed, the quantity of 
blood in the right side of the heart would be in- 
creased, in a greater degree, by the pressure of 
the column, extending from the feet to the heart, 
and therefore, this posture is equally improper. 
The horizontal, the medium between the two, ap- 
pears to be preferable, as, then, when the heart 
begins to act, the blood passes into the head with- 
out the disadvantage of the resistance of gravity, 
as when the head is raised and the feet depressed, 
or the contrary; and without the additional dis- 
advantage of the pressure of the column of blood 
on the veins, distending and weakening the mo- 
tions of the right side of the heart.* 

The place to which the body is to be removed 
is next to be chosen. From the debilitating ef- 
fects produced by slight impregnations of the air 
with noxious vapours, with moisture during the 
prevalence of east, in Europe, and of west winds 
in America, it is evident that as few persons should 
be admitted as possible; six active and sensible 
men will be sufficient; the room should be well 
ventilated, and have an airy, northern, and dry 
exposure. These considerations are important; 
as in cities, and in situations near the water, where 

* See page 30. 



ol 

these accidents most frequently happen, all these 
disadvantages are most frequently combined, and 
the lives of many persons, whose constitutions are 
weak, may be lost from inattention to them. 

With regard to the application of heat, various 
opinions are entertained. Submersion, for a few 
minutes, abstracts but little heat from the body. 
According to Goodwyn, the temperature may be 
raised to 100° of Fahrenheit, and then artificial 
respiration may be used. Coleman thinks the gra- 
dual application of heat is unnecessary, and that 
respiration may be commenced immediately. The 
temperature, according to Hunter, should be pro- 
portioned to the degree of life, and as heat pro- 
duces greater excitement than cold, a sudden ele- 
vation may destroy the resuscitating animal.* He 
found that if an eel be exposed to a degree of cold 
sufficient to benumb it, till life is scarcely percep- 
tible, and be retained in a temperature of about 
40°, it will remain without change ; but if the ani- 
mal be placed in a temperature of 60° it will show 
strong signs of life, and die in a few minutes: birds 
are killed in the same manner: snails, leeches, 
earthworms, fishes, dormice were frozen and could 
not be recovered; the ears of rabbits, the tail of 
the tench, and the comb of the cock were frozen 

♦ Kite, p. 88. 



b2 

and restored more easily.* The gradual applica- 
tion of heat, however, has been tried, though not 
under circumstances sufficiently precise to deter- 
mine with perfect accuracy the effect. An animal 
was drowned and reduced to a temperature three 
degrees below that of the atmosphere; it remain- 
ed in the water, and electric shocks were passed 
through it, so as barely to excite a contraction in 
the muscles ; the temperature was then raised three 
degrees every five minutes; the irritability dimi- 
nished at every step, and before the body had ac- 
quired its natural temperature, it was entirely lost.f 
The principle of the application of heat has not 
vet been precisely ascertained. 

On this subject I have made many observations, 
but, from the great variety in the duration of the 
irritability of the heart, sometimes ceasing after a 
few minutes, at others not for hours, in various 
temperatures, I can draw no positive conclusion 
from them, excepting with regard to the influence 
of temperatures above 98° ; then the heat of the 
animal rises above the natural standard, and, of 
course, must prevent success. The temperature 
of 150° of Fahrenheit produced rigidity of the 

* See Kite, Lond. quoting Hunter 
[Kite,Lond. 1795. 



63 

limbs in a short time, and, of course, rendered 
death certain.* 

In one experiment, in air of 100° combined with 
inflation, the circulation was much improved, and 
the arteries contained more blood than usual.f In 
other and lower degrees, the effect was variable.^ 
The opinion of Hunter is most safe on this diffi- 
cult practical question; that is, that the applica- 
tion of heat should be proportioned to the degree 
of life, and that it should be gradual, a precaution 
indispensable when the temperature of the body 
has been much reduced: if the body should be 
nearly frozen, it may be necessary to immerse it 
in snow, or cold water, and then gradually in- 
crease it. 

With regard to the mode, exposure before a 
warm fire ; the application of cloths wrung out of 
warm water; immersion in warm grains from a 
brewery ; or in warm water ; sand ; embers ; or lees ; 
or in a bed heated by the human body ; or by a 
warming-pan ; exposure to the sun ; hot bricks, or 
hot bottles filled with water, rolled in cloths, and 
applied to the neck, armpits, back, knees, ankles, 
and soles of the feet, have been proposed. As 

* See Expt. 18. 

f See Expt. 43. Of course, the simple effect of heat could 
rtot be known, as it was combined with inflation. 

* See 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 38, 40. i 



84 

ardent spirits produce cold by evaporation, it is 
an improper application to the skin ; a poultice- 
made by boiling ginger in hot alcohol, has been 
recommended to be applied to the feet: hot water 
in bottles would be more easily procured, and is 
equally efficacious. A machine has been invent- 
ed by Dr. Harvey, of Manchester, for communi- 
cating heat to the body : it consists of a hollow tin 
apparatus, in which the person is laid, and filled 
with warm water, which is renewed as often as 
may be necessary.* This plan of heating the body 
by water is certainly not so desirable as by air, 
sand, or placing the body before a fire; for water 
has a debilitating effect independent of the heat. 
When the body is properly prepared for com- 
mencing respiration, the lungs must be inflated by 
the mouth applied to the nostril of the patient, if 
no other instrument can be procured. A tube 
may be constructed by rolling a piece of the sole 
of an old shoe, or paste board, and securing it 
round with thread ; and then inflating the lungs 
by applying the mouth to one extremity of the 
tube, the other being inserted into the nostril. 
The pipe of a common bellows may be inserted 
into one nostril, whilst the other side and the 
mouth are closed, the cartilage of the trachea is 

* See Ann. Repts. of the Roy, Hum, Sec, 180?. 



65 

pressed backward to prevent the air from getting 
into the stomach, and as soon as the lungs are fill- 
ed, they are again emptied by pressing on the 
sternum. Their motions should also be regular 
and uniform, as it has been proved, that, when 
the air is retained by the lungs in a state of extreme 
distention, its qualities are less changed, in a given 
time,* than when breathed by alternate inspira- 
tion and expiration. 

When the common bellows is used, the air 
should be discharged in expiration from the oppo- 
site nostril, otherwise it returns into the bellows 
and again into the lungs ; the construction of this 
instrument prevents its exit by the valve on the 
side. In inflating the lungs of animals, with the 
single bellows, I have observed the precaution of 
pressing open the valve with the finger before the 
air was injected, and then forcing that which re- 
mained in their cavity through it, and afterwards 
continued the inflation. This precaution obviates 
all the disadvantages of the single bellows. The 
double bellows of Hunter, however, from its con- 
venience, is to be preferred. An instrument has 
been invented by Mr. Field of London, by which 
the lungs are entirely collapsed, in order to expe- 
dite the circulation. The alternate and complete 

* Ellis's Enquiry, Ed'tn. 1807. 
f 2 



66 

exhaustion of this viscus of its air, as mentioned 
in a preceding part of this essay,* is not so fa- 
vourable to the oxygenation of the blood as natu- 
ral respiration: any other process, therefore, than 
simple inflation is improper; particularly as it is 
very doubtful whether the circulation is really ad- 
vanced by entirely collapsing the lungs more than 
by natural respiration. f 

With regard to the kind of air to be used, there 
can be no doubt upon the subject. Pure'oxygen, 
nitrous oxide, and all the gases, excepting atmos- 
pheric air, are proved to be unfavourable to life.i 
As to the number of respirations, the Humane 
Society of London advise twenty or thirty in a 
minute ; as the imitation of natural respiration as 
nearly as possible is desirable, ten are amply suf- 
ficient. The cooling of the blood by the exten- 
sive surface exposed by the lungs, and its com- 
plete oxygenation, are circumstances always to be 
"kept in view. 

If the respiration be too frequent, the blood loses 
its temperature ; if too slow, it is not oxygenated 
in the greatest possible degree, and as this las.t 
process takes place, even after death, these cir- 
cumstances are not imaginary; particularly too, 

* See p. 31. fSeep. 51. 

4 See pages 35, 39, et geq. 



67 

as it has been shown, by actual experiment, that 
artificial respiration, if not too rapid, retards the 
loss of temperature after death.* 

In performing artificial respiration great force, 
in injecting the air, must be avoided, from the dan- 
ger of penetrating their texture,f and after it has 
been continued for some time and resuscitation is 
commencing, the number of respirations may be 
increased, as we have before shown that the quan- 
tity of blood in the arteries is by these means aug- 
mented.^; Extreme distention of the lungs in this 
stage is to be avoided, not only as it is incompa- 
tible with the process of oxygenation in its most 
perfect degree ;§ but also as it may produce em- 
physema and a fulness of the vessels of the brain 
by retarding the course of the blood; a circum- 
stance worthy of attention, as it frequently causes 
apoplexy, even in healthy subjects. 

Condensation of the atmosphere to four times 
its usual density is said to produce increased 
quickness of the circulation, and to empty the cava 
and the right ventricle, of course, to fill the lungs 
with blood, an indication certainly desirable to be 
fulfilled. 

A bladder was tied to a pipe, which was insert- 

* Philips' Enq. p. 215. 

f See p. 33, and Expts. 41, 42. * See p. 52. 

§ Ellis's Enq. Edin, 18Q7 5 and p, 31 of this essay, 



68 

ed into the trachea of a kitten ; a strong and uni- 
form pressure was made upon it so as to distend 
the lungs; the animal died after eight minutes. 
The lungs were kept distended by a ligature made 
round the trachea, the heart beat more strongly 
than had been observed in animals killed in any 
other manner. There was also no distention of 
the cava and sinus venosus, and there was a large 
quantity of blood in the left auricle.* 

These changes were to be expected from open- 
ing the thorax immediately after death, for as the 
power of the heart continues still considerable, it 
is evident that the circulation through the lungs 
must, of course, exhaust the vena cava of its blood, 
but as the lungs, in their most distended state, 
can exert but little pressure on the vena cava, it 
is clear that the effect of condensation of the air 
can be very slight in emptying either the cavte or 
the right side of the heart, in which they termi- 
nate. Accordingly, from my experiments per- 
formed on cats, some hours after death,f no effect 
was produced on the right side of the heart, when 
the lungs were forcibly injected with air, because 
that organ had ceased to pulsate. The blood is 
pretty equally divided between the right and left 
sides of the heart, (if only ordinary distention is 

* Kite, London. f See Espt. 41. 



69 

applied to the lungs,) and is the effect of the power 
of the circulation alone.* It is, then, certain that 
condensation of the air in the lungs can have lit- 
tle effect on the circulation; and as, when consi- 
derable, it renders emphysema probable, it is cer- 
tainly dangerous. 

The use of Hunter's bellows with ordinary pres- 
sure is most advisable. Munro recommends a 
pipe like a common male catheter to be introduc- 
ed into the trachea; Mr. Coleman added to a tube, 
with a vegetable bottle fixed to one end, a direc- 
tor made of a conical piece of ivory to secure its 
passage into the trachea. This apparatus, how- 
ever, is entirely unnecessary. A large tube, as 
recommended by Monro, with a thick wire in the 
inside to give it firmness, and slightly curved, may 
be thrust into the cesophagus below the epiglottis; 
the tongue is next drawn out and the instrument 
retracted, as if it were intended to be drawn out 
of the mouth, keeping it in a line along the mid= 
die, but raised from the tongue. With this pre- 
caution it readily descends into the glottis; the 
irritation, produced on the internal membrane of 
the trachea, offers no objection to its use, because 
even in health, when the irritability is great, it 
ceases after the first violent effort. A tube intro= 

* See Expt, 7, 



70 

duced into the trachea prevents air from passing 
into the stomach, and thus the descent of the dia- 
phragm continues free and respiration unimpeded. 
The functions of the brain would also, on reco- 
very, be weakened by the extreme distention of 
the stomach. 

If the introduction of the pipe be impossible, 
which is not probable, bronchotomy should be im- 
mediately performed ; a longitudinal incision must 
be made three or four rings below the cricoid car- 
tilage, the trachea divided between the rings, and 
to prevent the blood from flowing into it, the su- 
perficial veins are to be avoided and the head kept 
in an erect posture. Mr. Justamond, a celebrated 
surgeon of London, performed this operation on 
a boy who had been drowned ; the discharge of 
blood into the lungs, through the opening in the 
trachea, was so copious that recovery was impos- 
sible* 

With regard to the use of inflation of the lungs 
with atmospheric air, I have made many observa- 
tions; alone, it certainly will not resuscitate ani- 
mals, a result which corresponds with the obser- 
vations of Bichat. Continued for about half an 
hour in temperatures of 61°, of 70°, of 80% there 

* See Obs. on Anim. Life and Appar. Death, by John Franks, 
Svo. 1790. London, as quoted by Currie. 



n 

appeared to be some promotion of the circulation. 
In another instance, in air of 62°, the circulation 
was not at all improved; in air of 100° there was 
more blood than usual in the arteries;* in one in- 
stance, though the power of the heart was appa- 
rently increased by inflation for fifteen minutes, 
the circulation was not in the least advanced.! 

These are the natural means of increasing the 
heart's motion ; of the modes proposed by art, gal- 
vanism has* promised much. By Oswald it was 
applied by a machine, composed of two hundred 
and thirty pieces of zinc and copper, at the same 
time that oxygen was inspired; the greatest pe- 
riod of submersion was six minutes; in several 
cases he was successful, and he failed but twice. 
This result I confess I think questionable: the re- 
spiration of oxygen alone destroys life, when in 
full vigor, according to the experiments of Davy, 
in a very short time; weakened by submersion, 
its effect must be more decided. Dr. Philips has 
proposed to conduct a stream of galvanism 
through^: the lungs in the direction of their nerves, 
and for this purpose he states that the power 
should not exceed fifteen, or at most twenty-four 
inch double plates of zinc and copper, the fluid 

* See Expts. 39, 40, 36, 43. f Expts. 16, 37= 

i See Philips' Exp. Enq. p. 329, Phil. 1818, 



T2 

beinp one part of muriatic acid and water. The 
application of galvanism and electricity through 
the great nerves leading to the heart and lungs 
appears to be useless; the heart is certainly not 
susceptible through its nerves, if the stimulus be 
applied to the eighth pair in the neck, as is the 
case with the voluntary muscles. The experi- 
ments of Bichat, Fowler, and Humboldt prove this 
position; according to the two latter, it is neces- 
sary that the influence be applied to the nerves a 
short distance from the heart, a circumstance which 
renders it probable that this influence did not, in 
their experiments, pass through the nerves at 
all, but was conducted directly to the muscular 
fibres, particularly as Bichat found it impossible 
to produce contractions in the heart when the 
brain and heart were armed with different metals, 
also the medulla spinalis and the last organ, and, 
finally, the same organ and that branch of the par 
vagum, from which it receives several nerves. 
The two armatures were made to communicate, 
and no sensible effect resulted ; the best mode, 
then, of influencing the heart's motion is by apply- 
ing the stream directly through the thorax, com- 
mencing as nearly as possible to the heart. This 



remedy has beerwused successfully in resuscitation 
of animals asphyxied from cold.* 

Electricity also promises something in this dis- 
ease: eggs have been hatched by it in forty-eight 
hours ;j Abilgaard found that small promote, but 
that large shocks prevent recovery4 Coleman 
states that the hearts of young animals have been 
made to contract, by electricity, from ten to four- 
teen hours. The muscles were agitated violently 
from four hours after submersion by applying 
powerful shocks of electricity; in another subject, 
the heart and arteries were roused for a moment, 
and afterwards excitement was impouible by any 
stimuli. § Kite found that small shocks lessened, 
the irritability of the heart and muscles ;|j the ef- 
fect was powerful ; it emptied the organ of blood 
when inflation had no influence.^ In these expe- 
riments, small shocks of one-third of an inch, from, 
a phial containing twenty-four inches of coated 
glass, were sufficient.** From these facts it 
would appear that the exact power of electricity, 
as a means of resuscitation, is not known. It has 
been used in other cases, besides death from sub- 
mersion, with good effect. A child, aged three 

* Oswald, p. 70. 

fMem. de l'Acad. de Berlin, quoted by Fothergill, p. 137, 
+ Ibid, p. 123. §Kite, London. 

8 Ibid. K Ibid. ** Ibid, 87. 

O 



74 

ycara, fell trom a height and wa§ taken up to al* 
appearance dead ; electricity was applied, after 
twenty minutes, to the thorax, by passing shocks 
through it, and soon after the pulsation of the ar- 
teries was perceived ; the child vomited in ten mi- 
nutes, and was restored, in about a week, to 
health. According to my experiments, electri- 
city, applied in a stream in air of 56°, increases 
the power of the heart; broad surfaces, as con- 
ductors, contribute to this effect more than points,* 
and sparks not at all. Opening the pericardium 
causes the heart to beat, after it has ceased to be 
influenced by electricity;! inflation also increases 
it with this combination. Electricity, by sparks, 
and a stream both increase it, when exposed to 
the air, by opening the pericardium ;\ electricity 
lias no effect upon the heart when transmitted by 
the eighth pair of nerves,§ nor in resolving coa- 
gulated blood, an indication important to be fulfil- 
led, as sometimes the power of the heart continues 
nfter coagulation of the blood takes place. !| It is, 
then, most properly applied in moderately strong 
shocks by passing it through the thorax in a 
streaA, and after inflation has been used for soitip 
time.* 7 

• Expt. 54. § See Expt. 50. 

f Expt. 50. 1 See Expt. 55. 

-. See Expt. 62. ? See Expts. 48. 50, 55 



75 

With regard to the effect of other stimuli upon 
the heart, I have made some observations. Wa- 
ter, at 120° of Fahrenheit, applied in a bladder 
near to it, has no effect whatever on that organ.* 

The agency of ligatures applied to the extremi- 
ties, so as to limit the circulation to the vital or- 
gans, is very encouraging. A cat submersed till 
death, and exposed in air of 100° to 110° for thirty 
minutes with atmospheric inflation, and ligatures 
surrounding the extremities, so as to limit the 
circulation, greatly increased its power in the 
trunk.f With the same combination in a tempe- 
rature of 110° for one hour, the same effect was 
produced 4 and also in another, in air from 100° 
to 110° for the same time; in another, in air at 60° 
for forty minutes, the circulation was equally in- 
creased, proving clearly that ligatures, limiting 
the circulation to the trunk, greatly increase the 
power of the heart. The effect of the ligatures 
in increasing the power of the circulation was very 
decided, for in one instance all the extremities 
were surrounded by ligatures but one, and in the 
latter there was less blood in its artery at its pas- 
sage into the limb, proving that if the ligatures 
had not been applied, the circulation would not 

♦Expt. 52. f See Expt. 45. 

i See Expt 46 ; 



have been increased in all the large arteries which 
supply the trunk, as it would have been diffused 
through the extremities: as distention of the arte- 
ries and the left side of the heart is necessary in 
order to cause the valves to perform their func- 
tions, and as, in asphyxia, the blood is confined 
to the venous system, the difficulty of procuring 
a sufficient quantity of blood to fill the arterial 
system, vnust.be evident, and the value of the ap- 
plication of ligatures to the extremities, as it tends 
to produce that effect, and, of course, to increase 
the power of the heart,* is also apparent and cer- 
tain. In these experiments, atmospheric inflation 
was used in order to produce a sufficient power 
of the heart, and distention of the blood-vessels 
to found a comparison, on which to determine 
the effect of circumscribed circulation ; without it, 
it had been observed that there was no circulation 
of blood, even in the armpit, f in consequence of 
the weakness of the heart: and as atmospheric in- 
flation alone had been observed not to increase 
the powers of the circulation in an equal degree, 
as when in combination with circumscribed cir- 
culation, the effect of the latter was clearly evi- 
dent and certain 4 

» See p. 20, .55. f See Expt. 35. 

4 >See Expts. 37, "9, 40, 43, and the subsequent experiment * 



77 

During these operations, and after circulation 
has commenced, frictions may be applied with 
propriety to the body ; as it has been shown by di- 
rect experiment that they increase the quantity of 
blood sent to the right auricle, the distention of 
which weakens its power, after asphyxia has taken 
place, the postponement of this remedy, till the 
blood has begun to circulate, appears evident and 
proper; also as friction retards the passage of 
blood by the arteries, as much as it facilitates that 
by the veins, it should be gentle, and great pres- 
sure should be avoided upon the bowels : it will 
be best applied by the hand moistened with oil or 
lard ; a brush has been used to excite the surface, 
and whipping with rods recovered a case record- 
ed by Justamond. Sal ammoniac, oil of vitriol, 
and common salt, all substances which may de- 
stroy the texture of the skin are improper. A 
boy died after immersion, for fifteen minutes, in 
a pit of salt lye; it produced inflammation of the 
skin, and of the whole tract of intestines. This 
substance, if used in frictions so as to destroy the 
surface, and till the circulation was established, 
would constantly produce this effect. 

The flour of mustard, the essential oil of tur- 

on the effect of ligatures combined with atmospheric inflation, 
45, 46, &c. 

o 2 



?8 

pentine, boiled over cantharides, may be used , 
the room, however, must be well ventilated when 
substances of an acrid and volatile nature are ap- 
plied, as the person may have an idiosyncrasv 
with regard to them, in which case, the want of 
ventilation might be injurious. With regard to 
the action of remedies of this character, it may 
be observed that as the most violent are necessary 
to excite the body when in asphyxia, and as their 
operation may be excessive, when life returns, it 
is necessary to abate their action by washing the 
skin, as it regains its sensibility. Volatile lini- 
ment, composed of equal parts of olive oil and 
vol. spirits of ammonia, will, perhaps, be the best 
application, as it will not incommode, and will 
stimulate sufficiently* The parts to which it should 
most properly be applied are the trunk, particu- 
larly opposite to the stomach and heart. 

The operation of mechanical stimuli, as a brush, 
when they induce inflammation, has been observ- 
ed to render the animal more sensible to galva- 
nism;* this circumstance demonstrates the pro- 
priety of deferring this stimulus till the circula- 
tion is established. 

The vapour of vinegar, applied to the conjunc- 

* See Fowler's Expts. and Observat. Edin. 1793. p. 128. 



79 

tiva,*' rouses from syncope; light thrown upon 
the eyes, volatile alkali applied to the inside of 
the nose, loud noises, acrid substances to the 
tongue, as prepared mustard or the juice of onions, 
may be useful. Tickling the soles of the feet, the 
sides and arm-pits, as also the nose, with a 
feather,! are recommended ; they, however, can 
only be useful after circulation commences, as the 
passage of blood by the arteries is necessary to 
establish the sensibility. Plucking the hairs:}: has 
also been suggested, and it appears equally rea- 
sonable with beating with rods, which has suc- 
ceeded. It is in this stage of the treatment that 
agitation of the arms promises benefit by stimu- 
lating the heart from its effect on the vessels.^ 

With regard to the use of internal remedies, 
the essential oil of mint, peppermint, and other 
aromatic stimulants, appear to be best adapted to 
the system in this species of asphyxia; injected 
into the stomach, they produce exhilaration with- 
out any dangerous effect. Laudanum is noxious 
from the difficulty of graduating the dose, as large 
quantities must be used in this disease; six 
drachms of laudanum were followed by an instan- 

* See Bichat's Phys. Researches, p. 244, Edin. 1809. 
■j- Cogan's Amsterd. Memoirs. § Expts. 36, 54, 

±Kite, 1788, Lond. 



80 

taneous diminution of the motions of the heart 
after its injection into the stomach ;* six ounces 
of brandy rendered more quick and feeble the pul- 
sations of the heart according to the same author; 
he also states, they produce their effect before re- 
spiration, and, of course, circulation is restored. 
Kite states that heated liquors injected into the 
stomach, after hanging and drowning, have no 
effect upon the brain. f 

According to my experience, the effect of the 
same agents injected into the stomach, of turpen- 
tine, hot water exhibited no evidence of sympa- 
thy between the action of that viscus and the 
heart after submersion.:}: Electricity also passed 
through the stomach, was equally ineffectual. § 

It is evident they can produce no effect till the 
circulation is established; it is, therefore, neces- 
sary to postpone their application, and thus the 
danger of giving a quantity which may embarrass 
the functions of life will be avoided, as the effects 
can be immediately observed; as soon as symp- 
toms of resuscitation appear, water with a little 
aether, Hoffman's anodyne liquor, brandy, or wine 

* Coleman, 1802. 

f Mem. Soc. Lond. vol. iii. quoted by Fowler p. 72 of Expls. 
and Obs. 
*Expts. 60, 61. §Expt. 62. 



may be injected into the stomach with the besx 
effects. 

The use of tobacco in injection has long been 
recommended: Coleman gave it to a drowned 
puppy* after all motion had ceased. One drachm 
of tobacco was infused in two ounces of boiling 
water and suffered to cool. With the common 
means of recovery it soon made efforts to inspire, 
and breathed tolerably well, but in less than ten 
minutes, it died; as the same quantity given to a 
small dog in health produced death in less than 
four minutes, and as it would have endangered 
even the life of a man, the dose was certainly fa- 
tal ; no conclusion, therefore, with regard to the 
powers of the remedy in a proper quantity, can 
be drawn from these experiments. 

Legare tried the effect of tobacco injected into 
the intestines; he found that nausea, and vertigo 
were the first symptoms ; on exposing the intes- 
tines some time after submersion no peristaltic mo- 
tion appeared, even after five minutes irritation by 
the air, and when tobacco fumes were injected 
of the temperature of 90° of Fahrenheit, the lac- 
teah became visible and turgid, the peristaltic mo- 
tion was more considerable, and the arteries beat 
more strongly after every injection ; after thirty* 

* Coleman. 1802- 



82 

six minutes the remedy lost its power from the 
exhaustion of the animal.* Administered of the 
temperature of 65° by the anus it produced the 
same effects, increasing the pulsations of the me- 
senteric arteries, whilst the carotids beat as usual. 

The injection of warm water into the bowels, 
at the temperature of 130° and 65° of Fahrenheit, 
increased the peristaltic motion in animals whose 
abdomen was simply opened without any other in- 
jury. 

In animals submersed for one and a half minute 
and for three minutes, no effect was produced by 
the tobacco fumes, though they were continued 
for an hour, united with artificial respiration; in 
another, with heat and tobacco fumes, they were 
equally inefficacious. The fatal effects of tobacco, 
when administered in ruptures, proves the neces- 
sity of caution in the use of this remedy. The 
Abbe Fontana found that a small quantity of the 
essential oil of tobacco, applied to wounds, pal- 
sied the limbs. Accordingly, we may conclude, 
from these observations, that this medicine, like 
opium, in large doses is speedily distinctive, that 
in moderate doses it first stimulates and excites 
the powers of life. Like other substances of the 
same class its use should be restricted till the re- 

* Legare on the effects of tobacco fumes, Phil. 1805, p. 15. 



establishment of the circulation, and then it should 
be given in the most cautious and moderate man- 
ner. Dr. Hawes has invented a machine for in- 
jecting tobacco smoke into the intestines; a com- 
mon clay pipe, to the bowl of which the mouth 
may be applied, answers very well. Other sti- 
mulating substances are recommended; Currie 
advises an injunction of two or three tea spoon- 
fuls of spirit of hartshorn, a heaped tea spoonful 
of mustard, or a table spoonful of essence of pep- 
permint with a sufficient quantity of warm water; 
these may be continued after some degree of vi- 
tal power has been restored and the sympathies 
of the system have been, in some measure, esta- 
blished. 

With regard to the use of emetics, they should 
be postponed till the circulation returns: that the 
stomach is insensible to white, to blue vitriol, to 
emetic tartar, after the usual signs of life had dis- 
appeared, has been proved by actual experiments 
One drachm of tartarized antimony, given to an 
animal submersed till all struggling had ceased, 
produced no effect upon the internal coat of the 
stomach or intestines.* When symptoms of re- 
covery began to take place, vomiting and purging 
were the consequence. The animal, however, 

* Kite, Londo i 



84 

died at the end of seventeen minutes from tht 
commencement of recovery; and it is probable 
that death was produced by the excessive dose. 
White vitriol and emetic tartar, thrown into the 
stomach, diminished the force and frequency of 
the contractions of the heart, a fact which renders 
it highly probable that these medicines are entirely 
useless or dangerous in this disease. They pro- 
duce great irritation from the necessary dose, and 
are therefore unmanageable, and when they do 
operate they weaken, and when they are retained 
they destroy the powers of life. 

As to the propriety of venesection when the 
vessels of the face are extremely turgid, and there 
has evidently been great determination to the 
brain, it may be proper, as the symptoms of reco- 
very begin to appear, to bleed in the jugular vein, 
and thus relieve any congestion which may exist 
there; but the quantity must be such as not to de- 
bilitate the patient. As it is certain that empty- 
ing the cava promotes the motions of the heart, 
and as opening the jugular vein will produce this 
effect, it is a measure which may be sometimes 
useful, even before symptoms of resuscitation take 
place, and may be practised as soon as inflation is 
commenced. After recovery has taken place, 
should pain in the head, giddiness, drowsiness 
continue, it may be proper to draw blood from 



85 

the jugulars, or apply leeches or cups to the back 
of the neck ; in general the latter will answer every 
purpose. Kite drew blood in forty-five cases, ac- 
cording to the London reports, with favourable 
effect ; it has been recommended by Coleman when 
the • patients are plethoric, and it is necessary to 
be particularly cautious in tying up the arm after 
bleeding, as Cogan* relates a case, in which the 
patient bled for some hours after this operation 
in such a manner as to insure death. 

With regard to the effect of the transfusion of 
blood on the drowned, it has been conjecturedf 
that eight or ten ounces of blood will produce re* 
suscitation when injected into the jugular vein; 
but it is evident that as the cause of death is owing 
to the formation of improper blood, even if arte- 
rial blood were injected, this quantity would be 
too small to produce any effect, and into the ju- 
gular vein it would be useless, because, in the 
most natural state, arterial blood is unnecessary 
there, and what is still more discouraging, even 
if the whole arterial system could be filled with 
scarlet blood, and not constantly renewed as it 
changes its colour in one and a half minute, it is 

* See Cogan's Translation of the Dutch Memoirs. 
fSee Rep. of the Hum. Soc. Lond. for 1785-6, Sherwin's 
Letters, p. 204. 

H 



86 

probable that resuscitation would, by these means, 
be little assisted. 

However, it is stated that resuscitation took 
place, in an experiment performed by Dr. Gartly, 
by the transfusion* of arterial blood. Bichat fail- 
ed to produce resuscitation by injecting arterial 
blood into the brain, because the blood was not 
renewed by its union with oxygen :f if the mo- 
tions of the heart were entirely suspended, the in- 
jection was of no avail ; the animal could not be re- 
covered after that change had taken place. It is 
evident that the practice of continued transfusion 
of arterial blood would fulfil all the indications 
necessary to be observed ; the arterial blood, if re- 
newed in the blood-vessels, would supply the sti- 
mulus of distention, as also the proper fluid for 
the support of life ; and to produce this effect, the 
body of one animal may be used as the means by 
which the circulation may be continued through 
that of another. Accordingly, from the well 
founded prospect of success afforded by this re- 
medy, some experiments were made, but from 
the coagulation of the blood in the tube, which 
takes place very soon, even at temperatures nearly 
equal to the animal body, I was unsuccessful, 

* Oswald, p. 20. 

| See Biclfot's Phys. Researches, p. 202-3. 



87 

From the probability of pernicious effects from, 
the influence of the blood of other animals upon 
the human system, and the general impossibility 
of procuring transfusion by means of the body 
of another person, the experiments were relin- 
quished. 



»S THE 

CURE OF ASPHYXIA 

FROM HANGING. 



This disease has been shown to differ from, 
drowning, only in the effect of the water, which 
conducts away the heat of the body more rapidly. 
The same modes of cure are to be pursued. A 
physician assured the great Bacon that he could 
revive, by tepid baths and frictions, any subject 
who had not been suspended longer than half an 
hour, when the neck was not dislocated.* The 
same remedies have succeeded in recovering the 
drowned; cupping glasses, to abstract the blood, 
are frequently advisable, from the accumulation 
of blood in the head. Sometimes children are 
suffocated by being covered in the bed-clothes. It 
is common to permit cats to sleep in the bed, or 

* Struve's Pract. Essav, p. 37, Albanv, 1803. 



89 

on the cradle with young children : Attracted by 
the pleasant temperature, these animals lay them- 
selves across the neck of the child, and thus com- 
pletely obstruct respiration. In these cases the 
remedies for resuscitation are the same, 



H 2 



ON THE 

» 



CURE OF ASPHYXIA 

FROM NOXIOUS VAPOURS 



When a person is exposed to carbonic acid gas 
he becomes drowsy, inclines to vomit, and has a 
headach. The sleep becomes deep, and at length 
the patient is insensible ; his breathing is natural, 
without any symptom of suffocation ; and if he is 
not relieved within an hour he is irrecoverably 

lost. 

In treating this disease, all the above modes 
must be pursued, with this exception; as the body 
is generally soon recovered, and the air is not so 
good a conductor as water, the temperature is 
greater than in cases of drowning; the application 
of cold water, let fall from a height, or thrown in 
small quantities with some violence against the 
surface, drying it at intervals, has succeeded. If 
it be winter, frictions with ice and snow may be 
applied. Inflation with atmospheric air; galva- 



91 

nism; electricity; and the other remedies for as- 
phyxia, produced by submersion, must also be 
used. Injection, into the lungs, of air impreg- 
nated with volatile alkali has been proposed, by 
Mr. Safe, in death from fixed air. It is probable 
that it operates by stimulating the olfactory 
nerves, and by sympathy, the diaphragm and inter- 
costals. 



ON THE 



CURE OF ASPHYXIA 



FROM COLD. 



In high northern latitudes, parts exposed to ex- 
treme cold become insensible, livid, and after some 
time entirely lose their life. The person affected 
is ignorant of his situation till informed of it. 
The most effectual remedy is to keep the parts in 
a low temperature by rubbing them with snow or 
ice, taking care not to break the skin, and gradu- 
ally and slowly raising the temperature. When 
the patient has been wholly frozen, the same plan 
of treatment must be followed; he must be rub- 
bed or covered with ice or snow till the symptoms 
of recovery begin to appear; flannels sprinkled 
with volatile stimuli, as the spirits of ammonia, 
should be applied and rubbed over the surface. 
As the appearances of life advance, the preceding 
means of resuscitation must be used, observing 



93 

ibat the temperature should be gradually and 
slowly raised in proportion to its former depres- 
sion. This disease differs from asphyxia from 
submersion in being attended with general debi- 
lity of the powers of life from the loss of tempe- 
rature; the destruction of respiration being merely 
a consequence of that reduction. Hunger fre- 
quently concurs in producing this species of as- 
phyxia, and is cured by the gradual exhibition of 
nourishing substances; equal caution in their ex- 
hibition is necessary, as in asphyxia from cold 
with regard to the application of heat. When it 
is the sole cause, recovery is generally impossible 
from the excessive debility it produces. Ardent 
liquors often unite with cold in suspending life. 
In Russia it is observed that the use of spirituous 
liquors, in cold weather, are folio wed by a debili- 
tating chill which favours the baneful effects of 
Cold: accordingly, in excessive frosts they are 
avoided.* Immersion in cold water, and afterr 
wards rubbing with snow, are the most effectual 
remedies. "When the extremities are frozen in 
Russia, even when quite black, rubbing the parts 
with goose grease has been found to restore their 
life and circulation with great effect. 

* See Travels from Petersburg to divers parts of Asia, bji 
John Bell, vol. i, in the years 1715-18. 



94 

Mr. Currie, in his book 04 this subject, men- 
tions that after the taking of Ochakoff some pri- 
soners were cured by this application by the pea- 
sants, when others, under the care of the regular 
surgeons, lost their limbs and toes by the use of 
other means. The goose grease was smeared 
over the parts while warm, and the operation was 
often repeated, so as to keep them always covered 
with the grease. The circulation gradually ex- 
tended lower down, the blackness disappeared, 
and by degrees they became perfectly well. 



ON THE 



CURE OF ASPHYXIA 



FROM LIGHTNING, 



When this cause has acted with great power^ 
disorganization takes place: hemorrhages occur 
at the mouth and nose ; the blood-vessels are rup- 
tured; the pia mater is torn in pieces; the brain 
is altered in its appearance; the skin is black as 
ink and driven into ridges, and speedy putrefac- 
tion takes place. In such cases recovery is im- 
possible; it is only when no organic lesion of the 
organs is produced, that there is any prospect of 
cure.* 

The violence done to the surface of the body 
may be considerable, without necessarily render- 
ing recovery impossible. A man was struck by 
lightning, which threw him upon his back several 

* Kite, p. 235, London, 1788, . 



96 

yards within the room, with his legs upright .in 
the air, in which posture he remained for a long 
time, perfectly sensible but unable to open his 
eyes or to speak ; he could not move his limbs for 
some time afterwards ; his clothes were rent in 
many parts ; brass buttons and part of his watch 
chain were melted; the flesh of his right side 
scorched and torn ; and one of his toes split open, 
and yet his breathing was not suspended, nor any 
future injury sustained.* A boy, struck by light- 
ning, was carried home apparently dead ; the body 
was stiff, cold, the countenance livid, and the eyes 
contracted; by bleeding to twenty ounces, the use 
of a warm bed, and strong frictions, he recovered 
in a short time ; cooling remedies and purging re- 
moved a fever which followed, and in a week he 
was well.f Electricity has been used with suc- 
cess. M. Abilgaard recovered fowls struck down 
by an electric shock through the head, by another 
shock through the breast and back ; a second shock 
given to the head had no effect; that through the 
breast restored them, even after the blood flowed 
from the nostrils. :(: It would be prudent to make 

* See Currie's Observations, p. 146, quoting the Phil. Trans. 
1781, vol. lxxi. p. 42. 
f Trans, of Roy. Hum. Society, vol. i. p. 198. 
See Collect. Soc. Med. Haun, torn. ii. quoted by Carrie, p. 



97 

the shocks at first gentle, and gradually increase 
their power. Inflation of the lungs and heat to 
the surface, should the body have cooled, will be 
useful assistants. Stimulating glysters and drinks 
may also be advisable. 

Exposure to rain, as in the asphyxia produced 
by other causes which do not diminish the heat 
of the body, has succeeded.* Bleeding, inflation, 
frictions, emetics, the earth bath, have also been 
used.f To avoid danger in a thunder storm', 
avoid trees, palisadoes, or any elevated object 
which may attract the lightning; it is better also 
to be thoroughly wet by the rain, as electricity 
passes harmless over any substance whose surface 
is wet. Leaden spouts, iron gates, iron stoves, 
windows, bell wires, are dangerous during a thun- 
der storm. 

148. Electricity recovered a boy who was apparently dead hy 
a fall, after other means had failed. 
'* Fothergill's Preserv. Plan, p. 18. f Struve, p. 145, 



ON THE 

CURE OF ASPHYXIA 

FROM FEVERS. 



This form of the disease has also been cured 
by exposing the body to water falling from a 
pump.* The other remedies are also applicable. 

A patient had a fever for nine days, was seized 
suddenly with debility; the physician, on his ar- 
rival, found him without pulse or respiration, and 
was told that he had been in that state for a quar- 
ter of an hour. The feet and stomach were fo- 
mented with hot brandy, and half a pint of Ma- 
deira wine was given him. A tremulous motion 
was observed in the under lip, and soon after he 
began to sigh and the pulse to beat; he became 
sensible, and soon recovered. Coughing some- 
times induces asphyxia. A child, labouring un- 

* How. Append, p. 125, quoted by Kite, Essays, p. 583, 1795, 
Lond. 



99 

der a cough, was suddenly attacked with a diffi- 
culty of breathing, and to all appearance died; it 
was gradually recovered by inflation of the lungs. 
The same remedy was applied several times and 
with the same success. The attack recurred in 
the absence of the physician, and the patient died. 
Fainting, induced by any cause, when the person 
is much debilitated, will suspend life, and if pro- 
per means are not used will end in death. A wo- 
man, after delivery, fainted suddenly; the maid 
servant extended herself upon her mistress, in- 
flated her lungs by blowing into her mouth, and 
she soon recovered. On enquiry she said that 
at Altenburg midwives practised this method on 
children with the greatest success. This corres- 
ponds with the method of Elisha used for the re- 
covery of the Shunamite's son, 2 Kings, c. iv. 



MHHH 



ON THE 

CURE OF ASPHYXIA 

FROM PRESSURE OF THE UMBILICAL 
CHORD. 



The death of infants is often produced by the 
too sudden rupture of the membranes, and the con- 
sequent protrusion of the chord between the sides 
of the pelvis and the head of the child. Death, 
in this instance, results from the stoppage of the 
circulation by the placenta: it does not arise from 
apoplexy, because it would not be so instantane- 
ous ; nor from suppressed circulation in the lungs, 
because the same state of these organs will always 
exist; nor from the want of nourishment, because 
the child may be supported for several days with- 
out it * Asphyxia in children may also be pro- 

* See Dr. Clarke in Rep. of Hum. Soc. Lond. 1785-6, taken 
from the 8th vol. of LoncL Med. Jour, and quoted by Kite, 1788 ? 
Lond. 



101 

duced by the death of the mother. Doleus men- 
tions that signs of life continue for a day after 
this event; a child was saved forty-eight hours' 
after the death of the mother, though it was wound- 
ed in the foot.* 

Mr. Locock mentions a case in which a child 
remained exposed to the cold on a table in a wash 
house for something less than two hours; he plac- 
ed it on his knees before a fire, chafed it gently, 
and applied brandy to the stomach, occasionally 
inflating the lungs for more than half an hour. 
The umbilical chord began to bleed, the heart to 
beat gently, the same means were continued, and 
the child gradually recover ed.f 

The remedies are the same as in other cases. 
The use of ammoniacal vapours recommended by 
some practitioners is dangerous, as they may 
sometimes destroy life, A current of cold air or 
cold water sprinkled over the body have been 
sometimes effectual, particularly where asphyxia 
has been produced by smothering under the bed- 
clothes. 

* See Osianderj quoted by Struve p. 37, and Kite p. 249, 
Lond. 1788. 

f See Currie's Obs. on Ap. Death, Lond. 1815, p. 138; 
t 9 



-KEMEDIES 

FOR ASPHYXIA 

FROM EXCESSIVE INTOXICATION 



With regard to the cure of suspended anima- 
tion from excessive intoxication, the patient 
should be laid upon a bed with his head a little 
raised; his neckcloth and all tight bandages round 
the body loosened; the body should be rubbed 
with flannels, and the liquor removed from the 
stomach by an emetic or by a pipe and syringe. 

The emetic may be introduced by means of the 
pipe and syringe, and should consist of ipecacu- 
anha, emetic tartar, or of white or blue vitriol. 
Thirty or forty grains of ipecacuanha infused in 
boiling water, or three grains of emetic tartar, 
twenty of white, and five of blue vitriol, may be 
given, and repeated at intervals of ten or fifteen 
minutes. I have seen a child, who had taken half 
a pint c*f gin, completely recovered, and the sto- 



103 

rnach more effectually and suddenly evacuated by 
equal parts of sweet oil and sweet milk, given at 
a short interval in the quantity of a teacup full, 
than by any other mode: the effect was instanta- 
neous: The stomach was evacuated without ef- 
fort, as soon as the mixture was swallowed. 
Should no emetic medicine be convenient, the 
flexible tube may be used: it should be about four 
feet long, introduced into the stomach, which is 
filled with water by pouring it into a funnel at 
the top of the tu.be, or by injecting it with a 
syringe: as soon as the stomach is full, the pipe 
maybe converted into a syphon by turning down 
its upper extremity, and the water be again eva- 
cuated. Remove all bandages from about the 
neck, apply cups or leeches to the sides of the 
head, should it be turgid with blood; the. hands 
and feet should be next put into warm water. 

Whipping with rods may be useful; the same 
directions apply to the treatment of insensibility 
from opium,* stramonium, and all the other narco- 
tics. The stomach soon becomes insensible, and 
emetics do not operate after these substances have 
been taken. Affusion of cold water has been 
found to rouse the system, after the ordinary 
emetics have failed without it. If the patient is 
. near a pump, let the water be discharged over 



104 

him, after a dose of emetic medicine, and it ope 
rates directly. 

Mr. Brodie has proved that alcohol, of course 
all spiritous liquors, porter, ale, cider, wine, &c. 
vegetable poisons, as opium, act upon the brain 
and cause the diaphragm to, cease its motion, 
whilst the vascular system and the heart continue 
their functions as before. He also ascertained 
that the heart and arteries would continue their 
functions if artificial respiration were kept up af- 
ter these which were given; the conclusion was 
natural, that by the inflation of the lungs long 
continued, the animal might be revived, as actu- 
ally took place after the woorara; the oil of bitter 
almonds had been administered to a rabbit and a 
cat; in one by continuing respiration for sixteen 
minutes ; in the other for one hundred and sixty 
minutes, recovery took place. He therefore pro- 
poses inflation of the lungs as a remedy in these 
cases. 

It is necessary that the temperature of the ani- 
mals should be kept up during inflation, as this 
process tends to abstract the heat rapidly, when 
the functions of the brain have been suspended 
by the agency of narcotic or spiritous substances 



VHE HISTOH* 



HUMANE SOCIETIES, AND AUTHORS ON 
RESUSCITATION. 



An account of these institutions and works, as 
the most valuable contributions to resuscitation 
from asphyxia, will be proper here. In Egypt, 
Greece, and Rome, it was practised with success, 
but no institutions were established especially for 
that object. In the year 1637 a dissertation was 
published by Peter la Sena on death from sub- 
mersion;* two treatises are mentioned previous 
to the year 1700; in 1651 Kirchmayer wrote upon 
this subject, but his efforts were lost, and it was 
reserved for the last century to commence, in a 
scientific and effectual manner, this noble work. 

* La Sena Petri Diss. 1637. See Trans, of the Roy. Hum, 
Soc.from 1774 to 1784, and Struve's Pract. Essay, 1803. 



106 

In 1767 Reaumur reported several instances of 
resuscitation; in Amsterdam, a humane society 
was established in the same year; Milan and Ve- 
nice followed. The Empress of Russia publish- 
ed an edict for the same benevolent purposes; 
France, Germany, England, North America, and 
the states of Barbary united in the same career, 
and increased the distinction of the eighteenth 
century. The tracts of Winslow and Bruhier in 
France, and several minor writers in Germany, 
prepared for the work of Hufeland in 1791, and 
those of Bichat, Portal, and the Institute; Good- 
wyn, Kite, Coleman, and Fothergill received ho- 
norary distinctions from the Royal Humane So- 
ciety of London ; and in North America, the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania has produced some re- 
spectable dissertations ©n this subject. 



APPARATUS AND MECHANICAL MEANS 

PROPOSED FOR THE CURE OP ASPHYXIA, 



1. Of the London Humane Society. 

Fig. 1, 2, 3, are representations of a pair of 
bellows for inflating the lungs, as also to inject a 
warm stimulating vapour, as rosemary, &c. va- 
lerian. 

The mark, &c. A, fig. 2, is a lever for filling 
the bellows with fresh air in inflations, which 
must be turned over in inflating it, and turned 
aside when the bellows are used as common bel- 
lows for injecting stimulating vapours. 

C, fig. 2, is a brass nozzle which fits into fig. 
5, at D, for inflating, and into fig. 6, at E, for in= 
jecting stimulating vapours. 

Fig. 4, is a long flexible tube of the same de- 
scription as fig. 7. 



108 

Fig. 5, is a short flexible tube filled to the noz* 
zle of the bellows. 

C, for inflating its tube F, fits into figures 8, 9, 
10, 11, 12. 

Fig. 6, is a brass box inclosed in wood to con- 
tain the stimulating substance, and is to be con- 
nected at E with the nozzle of the bellows, fig. 1, 
and at H with the long pipe, fig. 7. 

Fig. 7 . A long flexible tube which, being fitted 
at G, upon fig. 6, at H, is used for injecting with 
smoke. 

Fig. 8. A curved silver pipe to fit on fig. 5, for 
inflating the lungs by passing it down the throat 
beyond the glottis. 

Fig. 9. A canula for bronchotomy ; it fits on 
fig. 5, at C. 

Figs. 10, 11, 12, are nostril pipes of various 
sizes; they fit on fig. 5, F. 

Fig. 13, are clyster pipes of different sizes; 
they fit on fig. 7, at I. 

Fig. 14, is a syringe with a flexible tube K K 
for injecting cordials into the stomach. 

This apparatus is contained in a chest lined 
with baize, with proper receptacles for sponge, 
flannels, flint, matches, steel, and tinder; and it is 
used in the following manner: 

When inflation is intended, the circular piece 
of wood, B, fig. 3, is turned over the clack-hole; 



109 

then fix the short flexible tube, fig. 5, Plate II. 
to the brass nozzle of the bellows, fig. 2, at C ; the 
ivory pipes, figs. 10, 11, 12, for the nostril; the 
curved silver pipe, fig. 8, for the throat; and the 
silver canula, fig. 9, for bronchotomy; each of 
which, as before described, is adapted to the plug 
of the short flexible tube. 

When you wish to inflate, press the brass lever, 
:V, fig. 2, open the bellows; then let go the lever, 
and, by shutting the bellows, force the air into 
the lungs. To extract the air, open the bellows 
without touching the lever; and to expel the foul 
air, press the lever, (to open it) and shut the bel- 
lows, by which means the extracted foul air will 
be thrown away; then, still keeping the lever open, 
dilate the bellows, by which means it will again 
be filled with fresh air; let the brass lever down 
and proceed to imitate inspiration and expiration. 

It may, perhaps, be necessary, at first, to fill 
two or three times before you expel once; and, 
for this purpose, you must remember to keep the 
lever open whenever the bellows are emptied, in 
order to take in more fresh air by the dilatation, 
Sec. &c. When the brass lever is shut, and the 
circular wood is removed from off the clack-holes, 
it is a common pair of bellows. 

K 



ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS 



The Points examined. 

Time of dying; Temperature; Peristaltic motion ; State of the 
heart, vessels, and muscles after death. 

Experiment I. 

At forty minutes past eight o'clock, P. M. the 
thermometer standing at 85° of Fahrenheit, a kit- 
ten, about twenty days old, which had been with- 
out food for twenty hours, was immersed in wa- 
ter. In one minute and a half the struggles had 
ceased. The thermometer was applied to the skin 
of the abdomen, and examined, after letting it re- 
main for five minutes, and the temperature was 
92°, the surface being completely wet. In ten mi- 
nutes after immersion it was 90°; in fifteen mi- 
nutes it was 89°; in thirty minutes it was 88°. 
The abdomen was opened to ascertain its tempe- 
rature. In forty minutes after immersion, the 



112 

thermometer was introduced into it, and its ex- 
posed surface covered from the air, and in fifty- 
two minutes after immersion, the temperature 
was 84°; of the room 78°. The peristaltic mo- 
tion still continued, and, in three hours and ten 
minutes, it was again examined and it had ceased, 
but the blood had not coagulated : in twelve hours 
and eleven minutes, the motion of the heart had 
ceased, and, on opening the pericardium, it still 
continued motionless; the blood was not coagu- 
lated; the right ventricle and the large veins con- 
nected with the heart were filled with blood, 
though not excessively distended. The pulmo- 
nary artery contained some blood ; the pulmonary 
veins were full ; the left auricle was nearly empty ; 
the left ventricle contained almost none; the aorta 
contained but little; the veins of the neck con- 
tained some; and the muscles had lost their irri- 
tability. 

Experiment II. 

The Points examined. 

The Temperature ; Dissection; Veins; Heart; Lungs; Blood 
vessels; Blood; Body; Brain. 

A cat, about twenty days old, which had not 
taken food for twenty-four hours, was submersed 
till she died. The temperature of the room was 



113 

85°. In one hundred and twenty-three minutes, 
the temperature of the surface of the abdomen 
was 89°; in one hundred and thirty-six minutes, 
the temperature of the abdomen below the mus- 
cles was 92°. 

The muscles had lost their irritability eleven 
hours after immersion. 

The veins of the neck, as they descended over 
the lower jaw, appeared gradually to be more fill- 
ed to the right auricle, which was full. The as- 
cending cava was also full; the heart was without 
irritability ; the right ventricle considerably dis- 
tended; the pulmonary artery contained some 
blood; the lungs, a little air as the animal escap- 
ed during submersion, and made a partial respi- 
ration ; the left auricle was very small with very 
little blood; the pulmonary veins somewhat dis- 
tended; the left ventricle contained less than the 
left auricle; and the aorta some blood. The 
veins of the tongue also contained some, but were 
not distended. The blood was not coagulated, 
and the whole body was stiff; the veins of the 
brain were not distended. 



k 2 



114 

Experiment III 

The Points examined. 

Time of dying; Temperature; Heart; Blood-vessels; Body, 
and Muscles. 

A cat was submersed till it died, with the in- 
tention of examining her body some time after 
death. Its struggles completely ceased in one 
minute and a half, and it was removed from the 
water in two minutes. The air of the room was 
79i°. 

In 7 minutes after removal from the water the 
body was at 97° 

In 18 minutes 97° 

In 32 minutes 97* 

In 42 minutes 96° 

In 63 minutes 94° 

In 86 minutes 92* 

In 128 minutes 88* 

The temperature of the room was 795° 

The body was examined after nine hours had 
elapsed, and the heart and large blood-vessels pre- 
sented the same appearances as in the last case; 
the body was stiff and the muscles had lost their 
irritabilitv. 



115 

Experiment IV. 

The Points examined. 

Resuscitation; its symptoms; Temperature; as also of the 
healthy animal, and the effects of suspended circulation in 
the living body. 

A kitten, aged about twenty days, was im- 
mersed for one and a quarter minute; it had not 
eaten for fifteen hours. After laying it on the 
table, it remained still for a few seconds, then it 
gasped, breathed several times at the interval of 
five or six seconds; in about two minutes it made 
motions with its jaws as if it were chewing, 
stretched out its legs, the abdomen exhibiting mo- 
tions of convulsion ; it began to move its feet, to 
roll and kick ; seemed in pain ; breathed with great 
effort and with some convulsive movements of the 
abdomen ; it breathed eight minutes after immer- 
sion, forty-two times in a minute; began to mew, 
to move about, and express great pain. 

The temperature of the room being 81° of Fah- 
renheit, the kitten still went on rising up to go 
away ; the bulb of the thermometer was applied to 
its belly and kept close to it by wrapping a linen 
handkerchief round it, so as to prevent the escape 
of heat by evaporation. After the thermometer 
had been applied for ten minutes in this manner. 



116 

the heat of the surface was ascertained to be ac- 
curately 88° in about twenty minutes after being 
removed from the water. 

The thermometer was applied successively to 
the bellies of three healthy kittens of the same 
litter; it rose in the two first to 98°; in the last to 
96°, proving that there was nothing peculiar in 
the degree of heat of the animal. 

Note. Suspension of circulation in a limb of 
an healthy animal produces the same reduction of 
temperature. In the summer of 1819 tourniquets 
were applied by me to the humerus and thigh, so 
as to compress the arteries completely, and after 
fifteen minutes, the temperature generally fell to 
90°, 88°, and 87°. 

Experiment V. 

The Points examined. 

The time of continuance of sense; Effects of immersion for 
two minutes. 

A kitten was immersed for two minutes; it 
struggled violently, turned its eyes upwards, paw- 
ed in a direct manner up and down, pressing 
against the bottom of the vessel so as to raise it- 
self to the surface for the space of forty-six se- 
conds, when its motions became confused, its 



117 

eyes directed in no particular manner, and evi- 
dently without an object. It was taken out at the 
end of two minutes and gradually resuscitated. 

Experiment VI. 

The Points examined. 

Time of continuance of sense ; Effect of immersion for three 
minutes ; Symptoms of resuscitation. 

Another cat, which had been without food for 
twenty hours, was immersed for three minutes. 
On first immersion its struggles were violent; it 
attempted to rise directly upwards; the eyes were 
turned in the same direction, and its motions all 
tended to raise the animal to the surface; they 
continued for the space of one minute, and then 
they became irregular and directed in no particu- 
lar manner. Afterwards it ceased to make at- 
tempts to rise to the surface. It made one strug- 
gle before the three minutes expired. It was re- 
moved from the water at the end of that period. 
In four and a quarter minutes it cried, and in four 
and a half it made one great convulsive motion 
with a deep respiration. In four and three quar- 
ters it made another; in five and a half minutes, 
it made a strong convulsive respiration with a ge- 
neral stretching of the body, froth corning out of 
the mouth; in six minutes, another of the same 



118 

character; in seven minutes, another with no mi- 
nor respirations in the interval; in nine minutes, 
another; nine and a quarter, another; in nine mi- 
nutes twenty-five seconds, another; it made three 
respirations in the next half minute; ten in the 
next; the breathing became now strong at about 
eight in the half minute; froth coming out of the 
mouth; the inspirations were deep; the abdomi- 
nal muscles violently moved; the mouth gasping 
at every breath; the expirations were strong, as 
if the animal wished to force something through 
the nose; the respirations were now about twenty 
in a minute, twelve minutes being elapsed since 
immersion; it began to stretch its legs; to breathe 
more strongly ; the power of the lungs increasing, 
and the general strength, till at last it recovered 
altogether. 

Experiment VII. 

The Points examined. 

The effect of immersion for four minutes ; Symptoms of imper- 
fect resuscitation ; Dissection. 

A kitten, which had been without food for 
fifteen hours, was immersed for four minutes; it 
ceased to move directly upwards in fifty seconds; 
made one effort to breathe just before the four mi- 



119 

uutes expired, when it was removed. In one mi- 
nute and a quarter after immersion, it made one 
convulsive respiration ; in two and a half, another; 
in three and three quarters, another; in four and 
three quarters, another; in six minutes after im- 
mersion, another; in seven and one-eighth, an- 
other; in eight and a half, another more weak and 
less full; in ten and a quarter, it made another 
still more feeble, the strength of the animal evi- 
dently declining, when it died. In one hour af- 
terwards, the breast was opened, the two carotids 
and the jugulars, the right auricle and ventricle 
were only moderately distended; the pulmonary 
artery contained but little blood ; the left auricle 
and ventricle was moderately distended; the aorta 
was empty ; and the blood in a fluid state. The 
lungs were partially distended with air, and look- 
ed red. The veins on the surface of the brain 
looked pale and were not full ; there was but little 
blood in the longitudinal sinus. The muscles 
had lost their irritability ; the peristaltic motion 
still continued in a very slight and scarcely per- 
ceptible degree, proving clearly that the inspira- 
tions which the cat performed before death had 
some effect in partially exhausting the right auri- 
cle and ventricle of blood ; in filling the lungs with 
air and keeping the two sides of the heart more 
equally distended. 



120 

Experiment VIII. 

The Points examined. 

Immersion for five minutes ; Symptoms of spontaneous resus 
citation; Dissection. 

On Wednesday, the 12th September 1821, a cat, 
which had been without food for thirty hours, 
was immersed for five minutes to observe the 
changes of spontaneous resuscitation. On first 
immersion, air was discharged from the lungs ; the 
animal struggled to rise to the surface for forty- 
nine seconds, its face turned upwards, the feet 
striking against the bottom, eyes open, as if it was 
the wish of the animal to ascend: But after this 
period the head was thrown about from side to 
side without an object; the legs were also moved 
distractedly ; showing that after submersion for 
forty-nine seconds it had completely lost the power 
of governing itself; it was then let loose, being 
still in the water, it laid on its side, stretching it- 
self in a convulsive manner, occasionally making 
three or four attempts to breathe in the third mi- 
nute; in the fourth fewer, in the fifth still fewer; 
it was then removed from the water and laid in 
the sun in a temperature of 75° y but no disposi- 
tion to resuscitation appeared. 



The abdomen was opened alter the animal had 
laid for an hour in a temperature of 75°. The 
veins of the upper surface of the brain were filled 
with blood; the jugulars, the two cavse, the right 
auricle and ventricle were also full. The left side 
of the heart was not so full as the right, and the 
arteries were empty. The muscles had lost their 
irritability j the intestines were slightly inflamed; 
the peristaltic motion was scarcely perceptible : and 
the sphincter ani was contracted. 

Experiment IX. 
The Points examined. 

Spontaneous resuscitation does not take place after five mi 
nutes immersion. 

Another cat, which had eaten none for thirty 
hours, was immersed for five minutes; one of the 
eyes was inflamed; the cat exhibited the same 
symptoms precisely as in the last case, pawing 
and looking up till three quarters of a minute 
elapsed, when it ceased to move for some seconds ; 
at four minutes, the heart could be perceived beat- 
ing in the side ; immediately after the five minutes 
had elapsed, it was laid on a window, and it 
screamed out in an involuntary effort to breathe. 
Pressure was made on the thorax about the heart; 
L 



122 

it gasped, which was repeated on again making 
the pressure. On rubbing and pressing the belly, 
in three quarters of a minute it gasped again; 
froth came out of the mouth ; the gaspings became 
more distant and more feeble; at the end of fif- 
teen minutes after submersion it was opened ; the 
right auricle was pulsating vigorously ; the right 
ventricle more so ; the pulmonary artery was punc- 
tured and immediately the right ventricle con- 
tracted more strongly; the right auricle became 
also more powerfully contracted; but it was re- 
markable that the two cavse which were laid bare, 
(in this and the preceding experiment the peris- 
taltic motion had, I believe, ceased,) did not be- 
come more empty. The auricle also did not dis- 
charge its blood, or at least in perceptible quan- 
tities; the heart, then, performs its functions very 
inefficiently after submersion, even though its con- 
tractions continue apparently powerful. The 
heart continued to contract for two hours; the 
right auricle and ventricle much stronger than the 
left auricle and ventricle. When the pericardium 
was opened and the surface of the heart exposed to 
the air, the right auricle and ventricle certainly be- 
came more strongly contracted. The blood, 
either in the cavities of the heart, or in the great 
veins, did not become red. 



123 

Experiment X, 

The Points examined. 

Effects of six minutes immersion ; Dissection. 

A vigorous full grown male cat was submers- 
ed for six minutes; the temperature of the water 
was 75' of Fahrenheit. In forty-eight seconds it 
ceased to struggle with violence or to make efforts 
to rise; no struggles or signs of life whatever 
were observed after the animal was taken out of 
the water. 

In 15 minutes after immersion, the heat of the 
external surface of the abdomen was 92 c 

In 25 minutes 92 c 

In 45 minutes 92° 

In 5.5 minutes 91 5° 

In 65 minutes 91° 

In 75 minutes 90° 

In 85 minutes 87° 

In 95 minutes 86° 

In 105 minutes 86* 

In 115 minutes 86° 

In 125 minutes 84° 

In 140 minutes the temperature of the inte- 
rior of the abdomen was 83° 



£24 

The temperature of the room at the conclusion 
of the experiments was 735°. 

In this experiment only the head of the cat was 
immersed. 

On opening the body of this cat nothing pecu- 
liar was discovered at one hundred and forty-five 
minutes after immersion; the peristaltic motion 
had ceased. The iris had no contractility; the 
sphincter ani was contracted; the heart on its 
right side; the veins of the tongue, the jugulars, 
the descending cava, as also the ascending, were 
tilled with black blood ; the pulmonary veins were 
full ; the left auricle contained very little, and the 
left ventricle still less blood ; the trachea was fill- 
ed with froth. The head was examined thirteen 
hours and fifteen minutes after immersion. The 
veins of the brain were found turgid with blood ; 
the longitudinal sinus contained some air and was 
not completely filled; the body was stiff; and the 
sphincter ani was still contracted. 

Experiment XI. 

The Points examined. 

Effects of immersion for five minutes ; Decline of tempera- 
ture ; Dissection. 

The head of another healthy, but delicate full 
grown cat was submersed at twenty minutes past 



f£5 

eight, P. M. the thermometer standing at 75°. 
In forty-six seconds it ceased to make attempts to 
ascend ; it remained five minutes in the water and 
was removed, and exhibited no signs of life after 
emersion. 

In 8 minutes after immersion the temperature 
of the surface of the abdomen was 92° 

In 15 minutes 90° 

In 25 minutes 88° 

In 35 minutes 87F 

In 45 minutes 86° 

In 55 minutes 84° 

In 65 minutes 84° 

In 75 minutes 82" 

In 85 minutes , 82° 

In 95 minutes 81° 

In 105 minutes 81° 

In 115 minutes 80i° 

In 125 minutes 79° 

In 145 minutes after immersion the tem- 
perature of the interior of the abdomen 
was 76° 

The temperature of the room immediately af- 
ter these experiments was 734°. 

The two last experiments were performed at 
the same time. 

The head of the cat was examined fourteen 
hours and twenty minutes after immersion, and 
l 2, 



126 

the exterior surface of the brain was found to be 
much darker than usual, from the fulness of the 
veins. The longitudinal sinus contained a con- 
siderable quantity of blood, and was partially dis- 
tended. The veins of the neck, the venae cavae, 
the right auricle, and ventricle were distended 
with blood. The pulmonary artery was partially 
filled; the pulmonary veins very full; the left au- 
ricle and ventricle empty ; and the aorta contain- 
ed a little blood. The trachea presented some 
bloody froth on opening, which was increased in 
quantity on pressing the lungs ; the body of the 
cat was stiff, and the blood was coagulated in the 
large and small vessels and in the right side of the 
heart. The iris did not present any signs of irri- 
tability, nor was the sphincter ani relaxed. 

Experiment XII. 

The Points examined. 
Effects of two minutes and a half immersion ; Dissection. 

To ascertain exactly the period of resuscitation 
after the shortest period of immersion, a half 
grown cat was immersed for two and a half mi- 
nutes ; it, however, did not recover, but remained 
without motion. The heart, on dissection, was 
motionless, supposed to be owing to violence of 



127 

the servant who submersed it, from a wound dis- 
covered in the lungs and the bloody water found 
near the heart; the peristaltic motion was vigor- 
ous, and the muscles retained their irritability, 
and the temperature of the cavity of the abdomen 
96°; of the room 78*. The heat of the abdomen 
was examined three quarters of an hour after- 
wards, and was found to be 88°. 

Experiment XIII- 
The Points examined. 

Effect of three minutes immersion; Dissection; Opening of 
the pericardium; Puncture of the cava, 

That spontaneous resuscitation does not take 
place after three minutes, was proved by two other 
experiments : There was no motion after removal 
from the water after that period. Dissection. — 
The right auricle was at rest, excepting when irri- 
tated by the finger; the right ventricle moved 
slightly towards its lower end. The heart, on 
exposure to the air after the removal of the pe- 
ricardium, retained its dark colour; the air had 
no effect upon the blood through the auricle or 
veins, though exposed for hours. 

In one hour and fifteen minutes, motion in the 
ventricle still continued, as also in the auricle, on 



128 

irritation with the finger; the former moved more 
vigorously on opening the vena cava, from the 
removal of the distention ; the blood was "not co- 
agulated. On puncturing the cava, the blood 
spouted to the height of one and a half inches. 
The auricle also lessened in size, but did not ac- 
quire the power of contraction spontaneously on 
opening the cava. The fact, then, is true, that 
distention of the cavities of the heart prevents 
their contraction. The contraction of the ventri- 
cle produces no pulsation on the pulmonary ar- 
tery; the left side of the heart was motionless; the 
masses of coagulated blood which were found af- 
ter its discharge from the cava, did not become 
scarlet as it generally does. 

Experiment XIV. 

The Paints examined. 

Effects of three minutes immersion; Puncture of the cava 
Dissection ; Heat. 

The other cat mentioned in the above experi- 
ment, ceased to struggle violently and to rise di- 
rectly upwards in fifty seconds, and when dissect- 
ed, the blood was found coagulated in forty-eight 
minutes after death. The heart was motionless 
and did not return on puncturing the cava; the 



129 

veins of the tongue were moderately full ; the cavae, 
jugulars, and right auricle were filled with blood. 
The left auricle and ventricle were nearly empty, 
and the peristaltic motion had ceased. The tem- 
perature of the bowels, in eighty minutes after 
death, was 78° ; of the room 68". 

Experiment XV. 

A cat was immersed in water a., the tempera- 
ture of 60°, gradually cooling down to 45°, at 
which point it arrived in twenty minutes ; in thirty 
minutes it had fallen to 42°, at which it continued 
during the whole experiment. The cat remained 
in the water for forty-five minutes, and the tem- 
perature of the interior of the abdomen was 75°. 
The muscles still retained their irritability on ir- 
ritation with a knife; the heart was motionless, 
and the blood had coagulated in the cava and the 
heart ; the disposition of the heart and blood-ves- 
sels was as usual; the thermometer stood at 80" 
in the room at the conclusion of the experiment. 



J-30 

Experiment XVI. 

The Points examined. 

Effect of submersion for five minutes ; Circulation extinct ; Wa 
ter in the trachea ; No circulation of the lungs from inflation ; 
Puncture of the cava. 

A cat was immersed for five minutes, and was 
opened immediately in order to discover the state 
of the circulation. The appearances on dissec- 
tion were as formerly. The heart pulsated occa- 
sionally ; the artery in the arm-pit was laid bare, 
but there was no pulsation in it, and scarcely any 
blood discharged from it on dividing it; the tra- 
chea was divided; water was found in it. The 
lungs were inflated about fifteen minutes after im- 
mersion, and the power of the heart increased; 
the quantity of blood, however, in the venae cavae 
or in the right auricle did not diminish; nor did 
the lungs become coloured, but exhibited a yellow- 
ish white appearance, showing clearly that no ar- 
terial blood passed through them. Puncture of 
the ascending cava caused great increase of mo- 
tion in the right ventricle ; it contracted more fre- 
quently, as also with more power, evidently pro- 
duced by the removal of its distention, for pres- 
sure upon it caused the blood to flow through the 
puncture, so as to exhaust it completely. 



131 

Experiment XVII, 

The Points examined. 

Puncture of the cava. 

The same observations were repeated with re- 
gard to the puncture of the cava and with the same 
result. 

Experiment XVIII. 

Effect of 150° of Fahrenheit after submersion for four mi- 
nutes; Blood; Heat; Puncture of the cava; Heart and Mus- 
cles. 

A cat was drowned by submersion for four 
minutes. It was then exposed to a temperature 
of 150° of Fahrenheit; the limbs began to stiffen 
in fifteen minutes after immersion. After immer- 
sion, in seventeen minutes the fore-legs were quite 
stiff. As the resuscitation was hopeless, the dis- 
section was made; in three minutes more the hind 
legs were stiff; the blood in the liver had not co» 
agulated; the temperature of the interior of the 
abdomen was, thirty-five minutes after immersion, 
104° of Fahrenheit; the heart had ceased ; the vena 
cava was punctured ; the blood effused coagulated 
in a very short time, so as to induce the idea that 



132 

the surface of the heart and lungs had some agency 
in effecting it. The heart did not move on punc- 
turing it with the knife, or irritating it with the 
finger, and the aperture in the cava had no effect 
whatever in exciting it. The muscles had lost 
their irritability. 

Experiment XIX. 
The Points examined. 

Effect of 124° of Fahrenheit after a submersion of four im 
nutes; Heat; Irritability; Heart. 

A very young kitten was submersed in water 
for four minutes, so far as to produce death with- 
out wetting the surface of the body. It- was put 
into a temperature of 124° of Fahrenheit. It 
breathed twice after it was put into this increased 
temperature, but did not resuscitate. In twenty- 
four minutes the abdomen was opened and the 
temperature of its inside was 96°. In twenty- 
eight minutes after submersion the intestines had 
lost their irritability, as also the muscles; the 
heart had ceased to move on irritation with the 
knife, and on puncturing the cava the blood wa* 
fluid. 



133 

Experiment -XX. 

The Points examined. 

Effects of immersion for four minutes and exposure to air of 
111 of Fahrenheit; Heart; Heat ; Peristaltic motion ; Lungs ; 
Inflation. 

Another cat was submersed for four minutes 
and exposed to air of 111° of Fahrenheit's ther- 
mometer for twelve minutes. No symptoms of 
resuscitation appeared; it was removed and the 
heart was found to be motionless, except when 
irritated j it would then continue to move for 
some seconds spontaneously, and in twenty-five 
minutes the right ventricle had lost its irritability 
entirely, though the right auricle continued to 
move when irritated. The temperature of the ab- 
domen was 102° after the intestines had lost their 
irritability, and also the muscles. The lungs were 
inflated at thirty minutes after immersion, and 
the power and motion of the right auricle was evi- 
dently increased; the pulmonary veins were eva- 
cuated, but the right side of the heart remained 
full of black blood; the artificial respiration was 
continued for a few minutes. After about ten 
minutes it was again repeated and the power of 
the heart was again increased ; the left auricle was 

M 



134 

empty ; the heart contracted with more power. In 
a few minutes after, the contents of the right side 
of the heart, both of the auricle and ventricle, were 
pressed with the fingers into the pulmonary ar- 
tery so as to exhaust their cavities, and then the 
inflation was commenced and continued for eight 
or ten respirations ; the surface of the lungs was 
more red, and the left auricle was fuller, and the 
coronary arteries on the left side were evidently 
more red; the heart also resumed its power. 

Experiment XXI. 

The Points examined. 

Meet of immersion for four minutes and exposure to 102° of 
Fahrenheit. 

A young kitten was immersed for four minutes 
and placed in air of the temperature of 102° of 
Fahrenheit; it resuscitated gradually and in twen- 
ty-one minutes after immersion was perfectly re- 
stored. This proves that the temperature of 102 c 
of Fahrenheit does not prevent resuscitation, 



135 

Experiment XXII, 

The Points examined. 

Effect of submersion for five minutes and exposure to a tem- 
perature of 100° of Fahrenheit ; Heart ; Puncture of the cava ; 
Muscles ; Peristaltic motion ; Remarks. 

The same kitten, in half an hour, was submers- 
ed for five minutes and placed in a temperature of 
100°. If it recovered it would prove, in the most 
decided manner, the salutary qualities of this de- 
gree of temperature. It drew a convulsive breath 
immediately after being removed from the water, 
and another in two minutes after. The symptoms 
of resuscitation were again observed. The ther- 
mometer had fallen to 92° in the place where the 
cat was; at the end of eleven minutes to 90°; at 
the end of thirty-seven without any evidences of 
resuscitation. The cat was then opened. The 
right auricle and ventricle of the heart beat with 
some power; the left side had ceased to beat; the 
state of the parts was as before observed; the 
puncture of the vena cava evacuated the blood 
from the auricle and ventricle; the former was 
not increased in power; the latter considerably,, 
The muscles had lost their irritability, and the 
peristaltic motion bad ceased. As the immersion 



136 

in this case was for five minutes, it renders it pro- 
bable that this temperature has no noxious qua- 
lities, for it is rare for this animal to stir after im- 
mersion for five minutes. The cases in which 
young kittens are used must be distinguished from 
those which are more advanced, as the former are 
drowned with more difficulty. 

Experiment XXIII. 

The Points examined. 

Effect of air of the temperature of 134° after an immersion of 
four minutes. Dissection. 

A kitten was submersed for five minutes, and 
exposed for fifteen minutes to air of a variable 
temperature, between 100° and 134°, without the 
least symptom of resuscitation. In fifteen mi- 
nutes the limbs did not begin to grow stiff. It 
was opened ; the heart was quiescent, except the 
right auricle; the peristaltic motion still continu- 
ed; the blood was fluid, and the great blood-ves- 
sels about the heart in other respects as usual; the 
left auricle contained rather more blood than is 
common, being nearly full. 



137 

Experiment XXIV. 

The Points examined. 

Effect of immersion in an air of 120°. 

A full grown cat was submersed for four mi- 
nutes and exposed to a temperature of 120° for 
thirty-three minutes, and was then opened ; the 
heart had ceased to beat; the muscles had lost 
their irritability ; and the peristaltic motion had 
ceased. The symptoms of resuscitation appeared 
in this case. The state of the viscera showed an 
entire cessation of the powers of life in conse- 
quence of the application of this high degree of 
heat. The limbs, however, were not stiff, as in 
one of the former cases. The temperature of the 
interior of the abdomen was 106°. 

Experiment XXV. 

The Points examined. 

Effects of submersion for five minutes, and of air at 100°, Dis- 
section. 

A kitten was submersed for five minutes in 
water and removed into air of the temperature of 
100° of Fahrenheit, in which it remained for fif- 
teen minutes without the least symptom of life, 

M 2 



L3b 

It was removed and opened; the right auricle ot 
the heart was found pulsating with vigour; the 
right ventricle had some slight motion, and the 
left side was quiescent ; the veins and large blood- 
vessels were as usual; the peristaltic motion was 
vigorous. The result of this experiment proves 
that the temperature of 98° is more favourable to 
the continuance of the functions than those which 
are higher. The muscles had lost their irritabi- 
lity, and, in thirty minutes after immersion, in a 
temperature of 69°, the peristaltic motion of the 
bowels still continued; also the motion of the 
right auricle was occasional and strong. 

Experiment XXVI. 

The Points examined. 

Effects of 64° of Fahrenheit on the heart, &c. 

An old female cat was submersed in water at 
the temperature of 64° for three minutes and ex- 
posed to the open air. She ceased to struggle in 
one minute and a quarter, and did not move af- 
terwards. On examination, in half an hour after 
immersion, the heart was motionless and the pe- 
ristaltic motion of the intestines had ceased. 



139 

Experiment XXVII. 

The Points examined. 

Effects of 64° on the heart. 

A young female cat about half grown was sub- 
mersed in water at the temperature of 64° of Fah- 
renheit for four minutes and exposed to the open 
air of the same temperature. In two hours after, 
the heart still beat. The peristaltic motion ceas- 
ed in half an hour. In twelve hours and a quar- 
ter the heart was examined, and I thought, on com- 
pressing the right auricle with the finger, that it 
gave a slight convulsive motion ; but as it did not 
occur on repetition of the irritation, it was con- 
cluded that the irritability of the heart, if not en- 
tirely, was almost exhausted. On puncturing the 
superior cava the blood gradually flowed from the 
right auricle, and on pressing both the auricle and 
ventricle the blood flowed in a rapid stream, show- 
ing that the communication was easy between the 
auricle, ventricle, and veins, and that it would be 
possible to exhaust, by suction, from one of the 
jugulars, the cavities of the heart, and, of course, 
increase its power. In this instance, the punc- 
ture of the descending cava and the consequent 
exhaustion of the right side of the heart had no 



140 

effect in resuscitating its motions. They were 
perfectly quiescent. A clot of blood was found 
protruding through the puncture of the cava, 
which, when drawn out, evidently appeared to pe- 
netrate into the cavities of the heart. Much of 
the blood was still fluid, and I think the circula- 
tion might have been kept up, notwithstanding the 
coagulum. The colour of the blood, in the de- 
scending cava, was slightly red in its smaller 
branches. 

Experiment XXVIII. 

The Points examined. 

Effects of five minutes submersion and 92° of Fahrenheit. 

A very young kitten was submersed for five 
minutes and removed to a temperature of 92° Fah- 
renheit. It had scarcely been taken out of the 
water before it began to breathe. It was again 
immersed for almost one minute. It gradually 
recovered, but exhibited signs of uneasiness in 
the heated atmosphere. 



141 

Experiment XXIX. 

The Points examined. 

Effects of submersion for four minutes and 92° of Fahrenheit, 
and of air of 80°. Dissection. 

Another half grown cat was submersed for 
four minutes and put into a temperature of 92° of 
Fahrenheit. It exhibited not the slightest symp- 
toms of resuscitation after being removed to the 
heated air, but appeared perfectly dead . In thirty- 
five minutes after immersion the heart had ceased 
and did not move, even on irritating it with » 
knife; the peristaltic motion continued slightly; 
the blood was not coagulated ; and the tempera- 
ture of the interior of the abdomen was 87° of 
Fahrenheit. 

Experiment XXX. 

The Points examined. 

Effect of air of 80° of Fahrenheit. 

Another kitten was immersed for six minutes 
and exposed to 80° for one hour and twenty-three 
minutes, and then examined. The heart had 
ceased to beat, and also the peristaltic motion, 



142 



Experiment XXXI. 

The Points examined. 

Effects of submersion for six minutes and of 80° of Fahrenheit. 

Another kitten of the same age was exposed 
in the same manner and under the same circum- 
stances for one hour and twenty-three minutes. 
The heart had no motion except a little in the 
right auricle; the peristaltic motion had ceased; 
the blood had coagulated in the descending cava, 
though not in the heart. These two last kittens 
had been without food for eighteen hours. The 
thermometer was 80°. 

Experiment XXXII. 

The Points examined. 

Submersion for six minutes ; Effects of 82° of Fahrenheit ; Dis 
section ; Puncture of the cava. 

Two other kittens of the same litter, which had 
not taken food for eighteen hours, were submers- 
ed for six minutes and exposed to a temperature 
of 82° for three quarters of an hour. The heart 
of one was pulsating; the right auricle moved with 
considerable vigour; the right ventricle mode- 
rately; the action of both the right auricle and 



143 

ventricle was increased by the puncture of the 
cava; the peristaltic motion continued in both kit- 
tens. The heart of the other had some consider- 
able motion in the right auricle, but had lost its 
motion in the other cavities of this organ. At the 
end of fifty-five minutes after immersion, the right 
ventricle did not recover its beats when the cava 
was punctured. The veins near the heart were 
more empty in the young cats of this litter last 
experimented upon, after dissection, because they 
had breathed aftej- immersion. The veins of the 
neck in the cats generally used in these experi- 
ments were not fuller than those in the axilla ; a 
fact which shows that nothing like apoplexy takes 
place in submersion, for the whole venous system 
appears to be equally full. 

Experiment XXXIIL 

The Points examined. 
■ Effects of 72° of Fahrenheit. Dissection. 

A full grown cat, which had not eaten for 
twenty-four hours, was submersed for four mi- 
nutes and exposed to the air of the heat of 72° for 
an hour. The right auricle of the heart still con- 
tinued to move ; the blood was, in some degree s 
coagulated, the heart being partially filled with 



144 

clots; the peristaltic motion and irritability of the 
muscles had ceased; the stomach contained a con- 
siderable quantity of water. In several, the irri- 
tability of the muscles remained for so short a 
time, that, in the last experiment, it has not been 
noticed. In this experiment the cat was in a de- 
bilitated state, as also in the six last preceding, so 
that the conclusion of the temperature being fa- 
vourable to the support of life is strong. 

Experiment XXXIV. 

The Points examined. 

Effect of 72° of Fahrenheit. Dissection. 

A young kitten, which had been resuscitated 
and was much debilitated, was again submersed 
for seven and a half minutes ; and after three quar- 
ters of an hour's exposure to the air of the tempe- 
rature of 72° of Fahrenheit, the heart, the peris- 
taltic motion, and the irritability of the muscles 
had ceased. It had not eaten for twenty-four 
hours. The stomach contained a considerable, 
quantity of water. 



14i 

Experiment XXXV. 

The Points examined. 

Effects of obstruction of circulation in the limbs on the power 
of the heart after submersion ; Puncture of the vena cava % 
Blood ; Heart ; Diaphragm ; Muscles. 

A cat was strangled, and as soon as it had 
ceased to move its thorax was opened. The heart 
was found quiescent; of course the experiment 
failed. The lungs were natural, partially collaps- 
ed ; and the venous trunks full of blood. A punc- 
ture in the descending cava evacuated the blood 
from the right auricle, yet caused no motion; the 
blood coagulated immediately on effusion from the 
vessels; the diaphragm moved on irritating the 
phrenic nerve ; the heart had lost its irritability, 
and the muscles also : A circumstance which may 
have been produced by the excessive struggles of 
the animal which exhausted it. 

By examining the humeral artery in the arm- 
pit in another animal, a few minutes after sub- 
mersion, the heart still beating, the circulation 
was scarcely, if at all perceptible. To tie up the 
artery is therefore useless, as the circulation does 
not extend to the arm-pit, of course not to the 
thigh. It was postponed till, from the increase of 



146 

♦he power of the heart, produced by artificial infla- 
tion, the blood could be sent through the artery, 
The following experiments, then, are intended to 
examine the effect of various temperatures com- 
bined with inflation of atmospheric air as a means 
of exciting the power of the heart, preparatory to 
tying up the arteries, as a further auxiliary to 
strengthen the circulation. 

Experiment XXXVI. 

The Points examined. 

Effects of submersion for eight minutes; Inflation for thirty- 
five minutes ; Veins ; Heart ; Peristaltic motion ; Heat of ab- 
domen—of the room; Cavity of the pleura; Cause of diffi- 
culty. 

A half grown cat was submersed for eight 
minutes. She was then withdrawn and the infla- 
tion of the lungs commented at four minutes after 
immersion. The inflation was continued through 
the divided trachea for thirty-five minutes, when 
the thorax was opened. The descending cava 
was not so much distended with blood as usual; 
the veins in the arm-pit were also less distended, 
and some blood could be perceived in the axillary 
artery; the veins of the neck were considerably 
distended, though, perhaps, not quite so full as 
usual; the pulmonary veins were full of scarlet 



147 

blood, and the ascending cava appeared quite as 
full as it was generally; the two sides of the heart 
were pulsating with more force than in any other 
case hitherto examined ; they continued to beat for 
an hour with considerable vigor, and when irri- 
tated, contracted strongly in all their cavities; the 
peristaltic motion was not perceptible in thirty-five 
minutes after immersion, and the temperature of 
the abdomen had fallen to 70° of Fahrenheit; the 
temperature of the air of the room was 61°; the 
heart continued to beat for ninety minutes after 
immersion with considerable vigor. In four and 
a half hours after, the whole right side still con- 
tracted, and also the left auricle when irritated; 
the lungs were found distended and coloured with, 
scarlet blood, and what is very extraordinary, the 
pleura was filled with water tinged with blood, 
probably from the violence of inflation rupturing 
the lungs ; there M r as some little water in the sto~ 
mach, though probably it might have been there 
before the submersion. The discharge of the con- 
tents of the vense cavse and of the right side of the 
heart through the kmg^-appears to be the great 
obstacle. The pulmonary veins were filled with 
scarlet blood. It appeared that pulling the aorta 
excited the contractions of the heart. 



148 

Experiment XXXVIL 

The P obits examined. 

Inflation after six minutes submersion; Dissection — Cavse; 
Veins of the neck ; Heart ; Arteries j Heat ; Peristaltic mo- 
tion; Stomach; Muscles. 

A cat about half grown was submersed for six 
minutes, and inflation was commenced in twelve 
minutes after immersion by introducing a gum 
elastic catheter into the trachea and attaching its 
extremity to the end of a common bellows. It 
was continued for thirty minutes, and, on opening 
the thorax, the right auricle was found slightly 
pulsating and very full of blood ; the right ventri- 
cle had ceased, but was slightly excited by draw- 
ing the knife across it; the two cava were full, as 
also the veins in the neck and arm-pit; the pulmo- 
nary arteries were filled with scarlet blood ; the left 
side of the heart was perfectly quiescent, not even 
to be moved by irritation with the knife; the arte- 
ries were almost entirely empty; the temperature 
of the abdomen was 75° of Fahrenheit at sixty- 
nine minutes after immersion; the peristaltic mo* 
tionhad ceased; the stomach contained no water; 
and the muscles had lost their irritability. 



t49 

Experiment XXXVIII. 

The Points examined. 

Inflation after sixty-eight minutes immersion ; Dissection — 
Heart; Peristaltic motion ; Stomach; Heat; Veins; Left ven- 
tricle; Blood; Lungs; Puncture of the cava ; Probe intro- 
duced into the heart through the jugular. 

A full grown female cat was submersed for 
sixty-eight minutes, and then exposed for fifteen 
minutes on a table, and the inflation of the lungs 
was kept up by means of a pair of bellows and a 
gum elastic catheter introduced into the trachea for 
the space of thirty-five minutes. As no signs of 
resuscitation appeared it was conjectured that the 
attempt was vain. The body was opened; the 
right auricle and ventricle and the venae cavse were 
very full of black blood ; also the veins of the neck, 
axilla, tongue, and ears ; of course those of the in- 
side of the head which was not opened ; the heart 
was quiescent; the peristaltic motion had ceased; 
the muscles had lost their irritability ; the stomach 
contained no water; and the temperature of the 
interior of the abdomen, in two hours after sub- 
mersion, was 75°, when that of the room was 62% 
a curious coincidence in the three last and fif- 
teenth experiments in this respect : the pulmonary 



150 

veins appeared empty, but, on examination, were 
filled with scarlet blood, proving the effect of in- 
flation ; the left auricle contained little blood ; the 
left ventricle very little ; the blood was fluid j the 
lungs were of a scarlet colour. The puncture of 
the venae cavse produced no motion in the heart. 
A probe was run down the left jugular to the 
heart into the right ventricle, proving that the 
blood could be withdrawn by one of the branches 
of this vein, and thus the motion of the heart in- 
creased. It is, then, evident that atmospheric air 
alone, injected into the lungs, will not resuscitate 
these animals, 

Experiment XXXIX. 

The Points examined. 

Effects of four minutes submersion ; Inflation with atmospheric 
air and 70° of Fahrenheit ■ Dissection — Heart ; Veins ; Lungs \ 
Arteries; Heat; Stomach; Muscles; Diaphragm. 

A full grown cat was immersed for four mi- 
nutes, as in the first of the three last experiments. 
It was found that simple inflation with the tempe- 
rature of 60° did not recover the animal. Infla- 
tion was commenced in five minutes after immer- 
sion; the animal being put into a temperature of 
70° and kept there for thirty minutes, the inflation 
being continued, The right side of the heart, as 



151 

also the left ventricle, still contracted ; the two 
cavae, the axillary veins, and the jugulars were still 
distended, though not quite so much as usual, nor 
was the right side of the heart quite so full; the 
lungs were very red, and the pulmonary veins 
were filled with scarlet blood ; the carotids also 
contained more than usual. It was then evident 
that inflation and 70° had more effect, in this in- 
stance, than inflation and 60° had in the first of the 
three preceding experiments. The temperature 
of the abdomen was 82° in about one hour after 
immersion, which shows that there was also some 
gain in this respect. The stomach contained a 
small quantity of mucous glairy fluid. The mus- 
cles, when the animal was opened, about thirty- 
three or thirty-four minutes after death, had not 
lost their irritability, and the diaphragm also con- 
tracted on irritation, 



152 

Experiment XL. 

The Points examined. 

Effects of submersion for five minutes and the temperature of 
80° with atmospheric inflation; Dissection — Veins; Heart; 
Arteries ; Heat ; Peristaltic motion ; Blood ; Danger of vio- 
lent inflation ; Power of the Heart ; Blood coagulated. 

A kitten was immersed for five minutes and 
exposed in a temperature of 80°, the lungs being 
inflated with a pair of simple bellows for thirty- 
three minutes. The body was then examined, and 
the heart was found pulsating in all its cavities, 
excepting the left auricle which was filled with 
dark-coloured blood; the pulmonary veins were 
scarlet.* On exposure to the air the power of the 
contractions increased ; the two vense cavse, the 
jugulars, and the axillary vein were equally full 
as when no inflation was practised, but the artery 
in the axilla, the carotid, and the pulmonary ar- 
tery were fuller than in the last case, shewing that 
there was more circulation, though it was very 
small, for on puncturing the carotid artery merely 
a drop issued forth, so that it was almost obli- 
terated. The temperature of the abdomen inter- 

* Shewing that no circulation took place between the lungs 
and left auricle. 



153 

nally was 80°; that of the room 71°. The peris- 
taltic motion continued in a slight degree, and, in 
one hour after the inflation commenced, the blood, 
on opening the breast, was found coagulated. A 
sac of cellular membrane, as large as an egg, filled 
with air, with the back part of the peritoneum for 
its anterior coat, was found to occupy the back part 
of the abdomen from the pelvis to the diaphragm. 
It, no doubt, arose from violent inflation, which 
drove the air into the cellular membrane in the 
base of the lungs. The power of the heart then 
continues after clots have formed in the blood 
contained in its cavities. In this case the tempe- 
rature of 80° of Fahrenheit appeared to be favor- 
able. 

Experiment XLI. 

The Points examined. 

Effect of condensation of air in the lungs, 

A cat was submersed, and after some hours 
the lungs were injected by means of a syringe 
with some force. The air penetrated to the kid- 
ney on one side, surrounding it with a large blad- 
der of air. The vense cavss were full of blood as 
usual, which convinced me that this means of con- 
densing the air had no effect in evacuating the 



154 

cava, and thus assisting the passage of the blood 
through the lungs. 

Experiment XLII. 

The Points examined. 

Effect of condensation of air in the lungs. 

In another cat, in which the thorax was laid 
open, the whole surface of the lungs was evidently 
penetrated by the air, when pressed into them, 
rising from them like bubbles on the surface of 
mud; the surface of the pericardium about the 
thymus gland was also filled. The circulation 
had nearly ceased so that it was certain none had 
penetrated the arteries and veins, though, from its 
easy passage through the texture about the heart 
and of the lungs, it was evidjent that it would give 
easy admittance into them, provided the passage 
»f blood through them had continued, 



155 

EXPERIMENT XLIIL 

The Points examined. 

Effect of seven and a half minutes immersion of 100° of Fah- 
renheit, and fifty -five minutes inflation with atmospheric air ; 
Heart; Ven<eCav<e; Aorta; Humeral artery; Veins; Sto- 
mach ; Lungs. 

A cat, full grown, was submersed for seven 
and a half minutes, and a gum elastic catheter was 
introduced into the trachea, and at the end of 
eight minutes after immersion, and exposure in 
air of 100°, the lungs were inflated with atmos- 
pheric air for fifty-five minutes. The temperature 
of the air injected into the lungs was about 70°. 
At the end of fifty-five minutes the chest was open- 
ed and the heart beat with great vigor ; the venae 
cavse were full of blood; the right auricle mode- 
rately distended; the right ventricle contained a 
considerable quantity of blood and was beating, 
though slowly, with considerable vigor; the left 
auricle was nearly empty of blood ; the left auricle 
contracted with some vigor, yet, on dividing the 
aorta, its power was not sufficient to propel the 
blood through the aperture. It must, however, 
during the inflation, have had some effect in pro- 
pelling the blood, for the humeral artery was 



156 

found to contain more blood than usual, and the 
veins in the axilla were very turgid ; there was 
no water in the stomach, though the lungs were 
filled with froth, and the intercostal arteries with 
blood. 

Experiment XLIV. ♦ 

The Points examined. 

Effect of 60° and ligatures on the extremities; Cavae ; Arteries ; 
Heart; Heat; Stomach; Remarks; Veins of the abdomen. 

A cat was submersed for five minutes, and re- 
moved into an air of 60° of Fahrenheit. The 
blood-vessels of the extremities were secured by 
ligatures, two round each whole extremity, and 
inflation with atmospheric air was continued for 
forty minutes ; the two cavse were filled with blood 
to, perhaps, a greater degree than usual; the ar- 
teries, however, were more full; the axillary ar- 
tery and the carotid were evidently more distend- 
ed ; the former bled considerably on dividing it, 
which, in former cases, it never did; the lungs 
felt warm to the hand ; and the heart still retained 
considerable power. The temperature of the ab- 
domen was 73°; of the room 60°. This experi- 
ment was made under great disadvantages with 
regard to temperature, and yet the blood-vessels 



157 

were considerably filled; the right side of the 
heart, I also thought, was fuller of blood than 
common; the stomach was considerably distend- 
ed. The animals had eaten some short time be- 
fore death. The effect of the ligature, then, is 
considerable, even producing distention of the ca- 
rotids, to which they were not applied. I thought, 
also, on examining the abdomen, that the mesente- 
ric veins were fuller; the vena azygos was cer- 
tainly more distended than usual. 

Experiment XLV. 

The Points examined. 

Effects of immersion for nine minutes ; Ligatures and infla- 
tion with atmospheric air for thirty minutes ; Carotids; Axil- 
iary artery ; Venje cavx. 

A cat was submersed for nine minutes, and 
after tying the extremities with ligatures so as to 
compress the arteries, which occupied sixteen mi- 
nutes, then inflating the lungs for thirty minutes, 
it was placed in an atmosphere of 110° for about 
fifteen minutes, and then in 100°. On examining 
the breast, the carotids were found much more 
filled with blood than in ordinary cases; the axil- 
lary artery also was partially full, and the corres- 
ponding vein nearly empty; the venae cavae were 
much less distended. The result of this experi- 



158 

ment convinced me that, assisted by ligatures, in 
the space of thirty minutes inflation, more effect 
was produced than by any other means yet tried. 
The motion of the heart was different from what 
is usual; it was of a steadily pressing character, 
as if it would be effectual in expelling its contents, 
which induced me to suppose, that to restore the 
power to the heart, it was necessary that the ar- 
teries should be in some measure full, otherwise 
the tension of the valves is not sufficient to pre- 
vent the passage of the blood from the left auri- 
cle to the left ventricle, and also the same is true 
of the pulmonary artery; it is necessary that it 
should be full ; otherwise the blood passes back- 
ward from the right auricle into the venae cavse, 
and from the right ventricle into the right auricle; 
what effect would the experiment of injecting 
blood into the jugulars, so that it may be forced 
into the lungs, have upon the circulation? It is 
true that the distention of the right ventricle and 
auricle prevent their contraction, and the evacua- 
tion of the blood reproduces them, yet the invi- 
goration produced by sending a large quantity of 
blood through the lungs may increase their power, 
and on the same principle inject into the arteries, 
the humeral for instance, so as to fill the aorta, 
carotids, &c. The left auricle contained scarlet 



159 

blood, but in a small quantity, and was very much 
contracted. 

Experiment XLVI. 
The Points examined. 

Effects of submersion for thirty minutes ; Of air of 110° of Fah- 
renheit, and inflation with atmospheric air for one hour, and 
ligatures on the extremities ; Vena cava ; Jugulars ; Arteries ; 
Carotids; Heart; Effect of loosening the artery ; Heart; Ef- 
fects of cold or air upon the heart ; Blood coagulated. 

A large female cat was immersed for half an 
hour, and removed to an air of the temperature of 
110° of Fahrenheit. Ligatures were put around 
all the extremities but one. A pipe was introduc- 
ed into the trachea and inflation was commenced 
in eight minutes after removal from the water 
and continued for one hour. The cat was then 
opened; the venae cavae were found very full of 
blood ; the venae azygos and the vein belonging to 
the internal mammary artery ; the jugulars were 
as full as usual; the axillary artery and vein of 
the extremity which was not tied contained less 
blood than that on the opposite side which was 
tied ; the carotid was fuller than usual ; the heart 
was perfectly quiescent, as the axillary artery 
which was tied contained more blood than the 
one on the other side which was not, and also the 



160 

vein. It is clear that the ligature has an effect, 
though the result of this experiment was unfavour- 
able to the complete resuscitation of the animal. 
The cause of the axillary artery and vein in the 
side which was not tied having less blood than 
on the other side which was tied, was that it pass- 
ed on to the lower parts of the extremity; for even 
after complete death, when the ligature around 
the other which was tied was loosened, the blood 
which was in considerable quantity on the side of 
the ligature towards the heart before opening it, 
immediately was sent along the artery to the parts 
below, which before loosening the ligature were 
perfectly empty; and the vein in the part beyond 
the ligature which laid alongside of it, which was 
very much distended, immediately contracted also 
and propelled its blood towards the heart, so that 
the artery which was considerably distended be- 
fore was now, after loosening the ligature, almost 
empty, and the vein which was distended on the 
radial side of the ligature was more empty, and 
on the side of the ligature next the heart the vein 
was more full, proving clearly the great power 
which the arteries and veins have in propelling 
the blood, and that it requires only a little increase 
of the power of the heart to produce this effect. 
The cause of death, in this instance, is not easily 
understood : we should have suspected that there 



161 

would have been some remains of life in the heart, 
as afterwards really appeared to be; there are 
great anomalies in the progress of this disease. 
On removing the pericardium in about seventy- 
five minutes afterwards, the heart was examined, 
and the right auricle was found to contract on ir- 
ritation, which it would not do immediately on 
opening the body, proving the effect of the air or 
temperature in exciting irritability. All the other 
pans oi the viscus were perfectly quiescent. On 
opening the heart, clots were found in the cavi- 
ties of both ventricles. The cat struggled greatly 
in dying.* 

Experiment XLVII. 

The Points examined. 

Another cat was submersed and continued in 
the water for one hour and twenty minutes; in 
forty minutes more the ligatures were put upon 
the extremities and the inflation continued for one 
hour in a temperature varying from 100° to 110", 
generally at 110°. At the end of this time the 
body was examined, and it was evident from the 
appearances of the carotids and aorta that there 

* It is probable the high temperature of 110°, in which the 
oat was kept, prevented the continuance of the heart's motion. 



162 

had been some contractions of the heart, for they 
were full of blood, though not to distention, as 
also from the right auricle which still contracted 
on irritation. The axillary artery was also full 
on the side on which there was no ligature, and 
the vein on the same side quite full which shewed 
also some circulation. The artery on the other 
side, which was tied, was pretty full, but the vein 
comparatively empty. Does not this prove that 
the power of the heart must have driven the blood 
on through the axillary artery and forced the 
blood through the axillary vein to the heart? In 
the artery of the thigh there is very little blood, 
the ligature being put on just above the knee, so 
that it could not have obstructed it, as it did not 
extend so far down. These facts evidently prove 
that the limitation of the range of the circulation 
certainly increases the quantity of blood in those 
vessels which were free. 

Experiment XLVIII. 

The Points examined. 

Effects of submersion ; Heart ; Electricity applied in a stream ; 
Carotid and axillary artery ; Cava ; Remarks. 

A full grown cat was submersed till it was 
dead. The heart, on examination, had ceased to 
beat, excepting the right auricle ; electricity was 



1-6$ 

applied in a stream, the temperature of the room 
being 56° of Fahrenheit. Both the auricles soon 
began to contract vigorously, the ventricles being 
still quiescent. In the space of a few minutes 
they also began to contract and continued to beat 
vigorously for three quarters of an hour; the con- 
tractions were effectual and strong, because the 
blood in the carotid was considerable in quantity, 
and also in the axillary artery; they continued 
with great power from the influence of the elec- 
tricity, for the heart was perfectly quiescent be- 
fore; the effect, however, of emptying the cava 
was not very evident; the electricity was applied 
in a moderate stream, and it proved that the power 
of the heart was increased and sustained by it, as 
it had entirely ceased, excepting the right auricle, 

Experiment XLIX. 
Incomplete, 

Another cat was submersed and exposed to 
the action of electricity, the shock being passed 
through its side ; an error was committed in its 
application and the experiment failed. 



164 

Experiment L. 

The Points examined. 

Effects of electricity ; Inflation with atmospheric air and open- 
ing the pericardium upon the heart; Effects of electricity 
and atmospheric air united; Temperature; Effect of elec- 
tricity on the eighth pair of nerves; Effect of electricity af- 
ter the heart had ceased to move ; Inflation. 

Another cat was submersed till it was dead, 
and ten minutes afterwards it was opened. The 
heart beat ten times in a minute in twenty -two mi- 
nutes after immersion; in tyventy-eight minutes 
after immersion a stream of electricity was sent 
through it, and continued for five minutes, and 
the heart beat only three times in a minute. In- 
flation of the lungs was made for ten minutes with 
no increase of power in the heart; the pericar- 
dium Avas opened and the surface of the heart ex- 
posed to the air after the irritability had appa- 
rently ceased, and the heart, in a minute longer, 
began to move, and its power gradually increased, 
the contractions appearing in all the ventricles; 
electricity and inflation were applied alternately, 
and it yvas evident with effect; the poyver of the 
heart was, in this instance, considerable, for the 
carotids and axillary artery contained consider- 
able quantities oi biood; the temperature of the 



165 

room was 56° of Fahrenheit; the stream of elec- 
tricity was passed, as in the last instance, in about 
three quarters of an hour after immersion. Its 
effect was tried on the eighth pair of nerves by 
connecting with an iron hook introduced below 
the nerve with the machine, and sending the stream 
of electricity through the heart, the animal being 
placed on an insulated stool, but with no effect. 
After the contractions of the heart had nearly 
ceased, in ninety-five minutes after the immersion, 
its power was evidently increased, the whole or- 
gan contracting with considerable vigor. Infla- 
tion was then applied, and it was thought to in- 
crease its contractions. 

Experiment LI. 

The Points examined. 

Heat after submersion ; Effect of electricity on the heart ; Ef- 
fect of opening the pericardium on the heart; Effect of air 
and electricity externally applied to the heart. 

A cat was killed by submersion and opened in 
ten minutes after immersion. The heart, in 
twenty-two minutes after immersion, beat fifteen 
times in a minute. In one hour and three minutes 
it had ceased. Electricity was applied, but with- 
out effect. The pericardium was opened, and the 
heart exposed to the air in seventy-nine minutes 



166 

after immersion, and it began immediately to con- 
tract with vigor, so that, in the last experiment, 
it was evident that the motions of the heart were 
occasioned by the contact of the air, as the peri- 
cardium was opened early in the experiment. The 
electricity was again applied ; the heart exhibited 
contractions of increased vigor almost immedi- 
ately, so the air and electricity combined increase 
the power of the heart after it had ceased from 
the action of electricity alone. 

Experiment LII. 

A cat was submersed, and examined after fif- 
teen minutes. On opening the thorax, the right 
auricle contracted feebly. It was left for twenty 
minutes longer, and the ventricle contracted some- 
what, though scarcely perceptible. A bladder, 
filled with warm water at 120° of Fahrenheit, was 
approached to the heart; it had no effect whatever. 
The pericardium was opened, the heat of the room 
being about 60°. It shortly after contracted with 
vigor, and was more sensible to mechanical irri- 
tation. A wire heated red hot, applied to the 
eighth pair of nerves, excited no contractions in 
the heart; when in contact with the organ itself 
they were vigorous. The heart increased in 
power instantly, proving that the contact of the 
air had great effect, 



16J- 

Experiment LIII. 

The Points examined. 

Effect of submersion and 58° Fahrenheit, and exposure to the 
air in a diseased cat. 

A cat was drowned in air of 58° of Fahrenheit, 
and in half an hour afterwards the arteries were 
found to be equally distended with blood, as in the 
four last experiments, particularly the carotid. So 
that it is a property of the animal, submersed in 
a temperature of 58°, to empty the arteries in a 
shorter time. It is certain that the electricity did 
not increase the volume of the arteries, as was 
conjectured from the last experiments. This cat 
had an inflammation of the thymus gland; it will, 
therefore, be necessary to repeat it. As far as 
this fact goes it is unquestionable that the arte- 
ries were fuller. 



168 

Experiment LIV. 
The Points examined. 

Effects of electricity drawn off by points on the heart — in » 
stream— by broad surfaces; Temperature of 58° ; Effect of 
electricity by sparks ; Effect of pericardium opened com- 
bined with electricity and imperfect inflation; Principle on 
which agitations of the extremities act, and pulling the ca- 
rotid. 

Two cats were submersed till they were dead, 
and in five minutes afterwards they were placed 
on an insulated stool, and one of them was expos- 
ed to a stream of electricity passed through both 
sides of the heart by points placed on each side 
of it, the thorax being opened to discover its mo- 
tions. Its motions were not increased, but in ten 
minutes after its first application had ceased en- 
tirely, and in fifteen minutes was not irritable by 
the point of the knife. The other, through which 
the electricity was passed in a stream by two 
broader surfaces, was increased in frequency and 
in power; in fifteen minutes the heart also began 
to weaken ; the stream was then applied and drawn 
off by broad surfaces from the first, and it was 
again resuscitated and its powers increased; the 
temperature was 58°. In both it was drawn off 
by sparks without increasing their power in the 



169 

least. The pericardia of both were then opened 
and exposed for ten minutes to the air, and the 
hearts were* increased in frequency and in power; 
electricity was then drawn off from them by points 
and with the same effect. A stream of electricity 
was passed through them and it increased them 
still more. It was now an hour since they were 
submersed, and as both the hearts were beginning 
to decline, the lungs of one were inflated, but as 
they had weakened very considerably it was soon 
omitted. To ascertain whether any stimulus 
might be communicated to the heart by agitating 
the extremities, as it was conjectured that the 
only mode in which an effect could" be produced 
by that means was by stretching the arteries; the 
axillary artery was laid bare and pulled; the mo- 
tions of the heart were evidently increased still 
more by pulling the carotid from its more imme- 
diate connection with the heart; electricity was 
passed through the stomach without effect. 



170 

Experiment LV. 

The Points examined. 

Effect of electricity in resolving coagulations by points and by 
a stream; Also on the colour of the clot. 

A clot of blood of the size of a hazle-nut was 
laid upon a glass stand and electricity was drawn 
through it by points for fifteen minutes without 
the effect of dissolving it. A stream was then 
passed through it and with the same result. I 
conjectured, in the last case, some little fluid ap- 
peared about the clot, but this was not concurred 
in by the gentleman who assisted me. The parts 
of the clot, when the sparks were drawn off, was 
certainly more red than those which were more 
removed. This might have been accidental. 

Experiment LVI. 
The Points examined. 

Effect of heated air of 160° of Fahrenheit on the animal sys- 
tem ; On the temperature of the abdomen ; Convulsions; Fi- 
nal recovery. 

A cat was exposed to air of the temperature 
of 160° Fahrenheit and removed at the end of four 
minutes ■, convulsions were the consequence, and 



171 

the thermometer, in the abdomen, rose to 106° in 
twenty minutes after. The object of the experi- 
ment was to ascertain whether the temperature of 
the interior of the body actually rose in conse- 
quence of the application of heat externally, and, 
of course, whether a temperature incompatible 
with life was thus generated. After the convul- 
sions of the animal ceased, the respirations were 
panting and frequent beyond measure. In the 
course of thirty minutes after its removal it had 
entirely recovered and appeared to be strong. 

Experiment LVIL 

The Points examined. 

Effect of submersion and time on the emptying of the cava, 

Two cats were submersed at five minutes after 
five, P. M. and left till next morning to ascertain 
whether there was any probability in the extraor- 
dinary facts related of submersion for a long pe- 
riod, and whether, as Harvey had observed, the 
, vena cava and right side of the heart would be 
more empty of blood, which presents so great an 
obstacle to resuscitation. One in twenty-three, 
the other in twenty-four hours was opened and 
exhibited the following appearances: the vense 
cavse were full, and the arteries contained some 



blood; the heart was without irritability on the 
application of mechanical stimuli, or from the ad- 
mission of air into the pericardium, provingclearly 
that the changes which appeared in Harvev's ex- 
periment do not take place in the unopened body, 
and that the irritability did not remain in the heart, 
&c. ; the thermometer ranged between 50° and 60 c 
of Fahrenheit. 

Experiment LVIII. 

The Points examined. 

Effect of submersion on the cava, pulmonary veins, heart, ca~ 
rotid, and axillary artery; Exposure of the heart and pulling 
of the carotid. 

Another cat was submersed till it was dead, 
and laid in the air varying between 50° and 60° 
of Fahrenheit, and was opened at the end of thir- 
teen hours. The venae cavae and right auricle 
were much distended with blood; the ventricle 
was not so much so; the pulmonary veins were 
full of black blood, and the left auricle contained 
more blood than usual ; the left ventricle was much 
as before ; the carotid and axillary arteries con- 
tained more blood than is generally found in dis- 
sected animals when the thermometer ranged be- 
tween 70° and 80°; the exposure of the heart to 



173 

the air, by opening the pericardium and pulling 
the carotids, produced no contractions; of course, 
the irritability had irrevocably gone. 

Experiment LIX. 

The Points examined. 

Effect of submersion and time on the heart and vessels, and of 
opening the pericardium. 

Another cat, which had been submersed at the 
same time, was examined after fourteen hours im- 
mersion in water, the temperature of which rang- 
ed between 50° and 60° of Fahrenheit, and it was 
found to exhibit the same appearances. The heart 
and vessels were in the same state, and the for- 
mer did not contract on exposure to the air by 
opening the pericardium or on pulling the caro- 
tids; the right auricle and ventricle were, perhaps, 
more soft than in the last instance. These expe- 
riments prove that Harvey's observation does not 
always hold good, and that the irritability is ex- 
hausted in thirteen or fourteen hours. 



174 

Experiment LX. 

The Points examined. 

Effect of heated fluids on the heart when injected into the 
stomach; Heart; No sympathy between the stomach and the 
heart. 

A cat was submersed till all signs v of life had 
ceased. The thorax was opened previous to the 
injection, when the heart was beginning to decline 
in power; two ounces of spirits of turpentine, milk 
warm, were then injected into the stomach, but 
with no effect on the motions of the heart. This 
experiment was performed under the idea that 
there was a sympathy in the stomach with the 
heart, as there exists between the lungs and the 
heart. This organ declined gradually without be- 
ing the least influenced by the injection. 

Experiment LXI. 
The Points examined. 

Effect of inflation and temperature milk warm, and hot water 
on the heart when injected into the stomach. 

The above experiment was repeated, and infla- 
tion was combined with it. The heart went on 
notwithstanding, but regularly weakened; the in- 



175 

llation was omitted after a short time; the injec- 
tion produced no effect upon the heart. Upon 
another animal very hot water was injected. 
From the effect which this agent produces in hys- 
teria and other nervous diseases it was hoped that 
its influence would be favourable; but without any 
effect whatever. 

Experiment LXIL 
The Points examined. 

Effect of submersion; Heart quiescent; Electricity passed 
through the stomach ; No sympathy between the heart and 
the stomach evinced by electricity. 

A cat was submersed till it was dead, and on 
opening the thorax the heart was quiescent. A 
stream of electricity was passed through the sto- 
mach by means of a gum elastic catheter with a 
wire concealed in it, introduced into that organ. 
The electricity was conducted through it by plac- 
ing a brass rod with a knotted end on the outside 
of it, and thus passing a stream through it, the ani* 
mal being placed on an insulated stool connected 
by the metallic conductors with the ground and 
the machine. No effect was produced by continu- 
ing the process for five minutes; no sympathy, 
then, existed between the stomach and the heart, 
as evinced by electricity. The pericardium was 



176 



opened, and the heart, in a short time, began to 
contract from exposure to the air, and on passing 
a stream of electricity through it, it became vigor- 



ExPERIMENT LXIII. 

The Points examined. 
Effect of the surface of the lungs and heart on coagulation 

Some blood was permitted to fall upon the sur- 
face of a board on which a cat prepared for expe- 
riment laid, and at the same time blood was also 
discharged on the surface of the lungs and heart; 
the latter coagulated immediately, whilst the for- 
mer did not during the time the experiments last- 
ed, proving the wisdom of nature in establishing 
this quality to prevent the mischievous effects of 
wounds of the heart and lungs. 



THE END. 



